When it Rains
by briskd
Summary: She had loved, she had gained and she had lost. She had died and yet been brought back. She contradicted every written destiny ever created for her; the child of the prophecy. So what happens when the destiny isn't written down, isn't planned but instead a 'lightbulb' moment from the man she once loved? !Tragedy!Fem!Naru. Eventual Kakashi/Naru(ko). (CURRENTLY REWRITING CHAPTERS)
1. Chapter 1 - As she left

**26/02/16: I've decided to do a re-write of the majority of my chapters. Looking back at my older chapters, I just cringe at how bad they were (probably still are but whatever). Knowing me, I'll probably produce one rewritten chapter every two or three days as I don't want to stop updating – my writer's block has gone!**

**Thank you for all your support additionally, I haven't recently thanked all of you for reviewing and favouriting and reviewing, and considering I have almost 300 following actively this I feel really bad for that.**

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**-.-**

Rivets of water poured down Naruko and clambered against the field, wetting the blood-soaked field until streams of pink spread everywhere. All around Naruko were dead bodies, even Madara and Obito himself. She had lost many a people and she didn't know how she'd be able to go back to the dozen or so Konogakure citizens who still were alive and tell them that they had lost many shinobi's and civilians in this war. Many a Hyuuga, many a Inuzuka and much more. And the ones that struck deep into her heart; Neji. Kiba. Hinata. Obito. Minato. Kushina. Shino. Kakashi-sensei. Everyone… Sasuke.

In such a small amount of time, a couple of years only, she had lost nearly everyone and yet at the same time gained those who had taken a piece of her heart with them as they all crumpled to the floor. And yet, in her mind, the man she had imagined would have been on her side when they were children was the last obstacle between her and… nothing?

Because what was left for Naruko if she beat him. Nothing but trekking back to downtrodden Konoha with barely a fraction of the population left, and the great majority scavenging for what little they could use to defend between the onslaught of the war and impending doom flashing bright in front of their eyes.

To know that the man in front of her instigated a large part of this, and that she shouldn't even pity him left her torn in two. She wanted nothing more than to run to the man she saw as her close frien—best friend, brother and even to an extent a possible lover. At this, she chuckled mirthlessly; she'd have to be blind to not notice their relationship was a little more than what met the eye.

She wouldn't have _died _for someone she didn't care about that much.

Her eyes glazed over as her mind relayed all the memories leading up to this moment.

_Naruko frowned as she examined the raven-haired boy in front of her, from the weird rise of his hair to the endless dark pools – she could almost _see _self-loathing and hate rolling in them. Forcibly pulling a smile to her face, Naruko greeted the boy with the widest smile she could muster and almost collapsed at that moment when she saw the endless surprise in his eyes as if he had never been smiled at in his life. Naruko knew at that moment that they both lived a life of neglect…_

Naruko raised her cerulean eyes to pin down Sasuke with a glare. Clad in her typical orange jumpsuit, but her blonde with red streaked hair pulled back in a tight, unrelenting tie. Her hands were curled up in fists as she kicked off from the floor, right fist drawn back in a coiled punch.

Almost like a DVD player, her mind rushed head first into painful memories.

_Haku's power was through the roof, Naruko thought as she wiped away the blood dripping down her chin. Her chakra levels were exhausted and she was tired. She wanted nothing more than to collapse right there at that moment and give up on life. She might as well, she mused morbidly. There was no-one back at home waiting for her besides Jiji, and even then sometimes she saw guilt and sadness flash through his eyes – probably at having to put up with her. She was tiresome, energetic, a bubble of stupidity to everyone who knew her. She chuckled to herself, as she planted her feet sturdily in the way of Haku's senbons. _

Naruko's steps faltered, stopping her fists from connecting with Sasuke's rib and took a blow to her spine, flying backwards what seemed like miles before she hit the tree base and slumped. She was ready to give up, ready to succumb because she had everyone waiting for her, waiting for her in that place they called Heaven? Or maybe she was going to be dragged down to hell, she was a _'no good monster' _after all…

_Naruko closed her eyes, willing her body to stay still and take all the senbons – hoping for a painless death at the very least. Didn't she at least deserve that? A thick, tense silence hovered over the area and she could, in the distance and very faintly hear her Kakashi-sensei yell "Naruko! Move!" but she wouldn't…._

_She couldn't feel anything. She opened her eyes, expecting to see Haku taunting her, waiting for her to open her eyes so Haku could finish Naruko off. _

_So she didn't know why she opened her eyes to _that_… a bloody Sasuke crumpled in front of her – his arms flung wide open and his body curled with what must have been a leap at her. Blood poured from the senbon-inflicted wounds and blood leaked out the corner of his mouth. _

"_Dobe…" he whispered. "N-no… N-Naruko… d-don't you d-dare die on m-me." He said firmly as his eyes closed, those pools of black sealing themselves off from the rest of the world._

_Everything was a blur… She couldn't even feel her own pained yells or sobs as the rain washed the blood away, leaving pink streams… it reminded her of the sunset she once saw with Sasuke – when he was better, in what way she couldn't even think of…_

Naruko's power and energy rushed back in one wash and she remembered all her fallen Nakama who wouldn't have wanted her to go like that. A snarl ripped its way into Naruko's mouth as red bled into blue and a flash of purple with black enveloped Naruko before she shot off at Sasuke, chakra infused fists sending Sasuke flying backwards. She roared as she fell into her four tails form, her sane Nine tails Mode forgotten as she fell into a dangerous pool of power, cutting of the Kyuubi with the sudden surge of power. Demonic power.

"_Naruko." Sasuke mouthed silently, his hand moving to his blade sealed behind his back as he stared down the woman in front of him. In the small amount of years he'd been gone, cut his ties and left the village Naruko had changed. Naruko was a new person and she wouldn't' let Sasuke through if it meant sacrificing her precious people. _

"_Why can't you learn?!" Sasuke snarled, twisting his body to kick Naruko as she leapt backwards, pointless promises spilling from her mouth._

"_Sasuke…" Naruko whispered, hanging her head. "Have I really lost all meaning to you? I thought you… I thought you were the only one who understood me and likewise. I thought you cared for me…"_

_Sasuke took a step backwards, in shock. He shook his head of weak memories when his cursed seal pulsed with malicious intent. "As if." He ignored her choke even though it struck a chord._

_The clouds rumbled and the sky darkened. Naruko stepped backwards in shock, fatigue catching up with her too._

_Lightning began collecting around his fists_

Naruko whispered hoarsely. "I guess I still mean nothing to you."

A small, barely there yet as loud as thunder at the same time, chuckle resonated through the fields. "I guess we'll both go down this time, ne? Let's make this quick…" Naruko smiled softly, as if she wasn't about to die, "I have people who actually care for me waiting. I told them I'd be there soon. I mean, a Hokage always goes down with their people."

"I didn't tell you did I?" Naruko questioned, her head titling to the side. Her red eyes were dulled though she spoke with faked glee. "I became Hokage… I guess we both completed what we wanted to, ne?"

Naruko shook her head, her hands dropping to the sides. In her right palm, a small swirl of wind was forming.

"_Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as he charged towards Naruko, his right palm alight with a manifestation of lightning in his hands. A special A-class Jutsu taught to him by none other than his old Sensei. _

_Naruko smiled, the Rasengan swirling in her palm as she weakly brought it up, a pained smile gracing her face. As Sasuke neared, he narrowed his eyes in suspicion becoming wary as Naruko didn't move. In a faux move, Sasuke drove the Chidori forwards, expecting a clash of Rasengan and Chidori. _

_The area became silent. _

_Sasuke stood still in shock, fear, anger and… sadness? As his arm remained frozen in Naruko. A clean cut right through her heart. He could already see the beating slow down as the rasengan fuvanished in her hands and she smiled at him with a blood filled smile, blood trickling down the side of her mouth as her beating slowed. Her mind became fuzzy and clouded with tiredness and a faint but there pain as it increased until every limb screamed in pain and the Kyuubi growled in a mixture of anger and… worry?_

"_C-Congratulations." Naruko spoke, almost proudly as her legs shook. She still smiled however as her eyes fluttered shut before opening. "Don't worry I'll be out of your hair in a moment. Ha, do you remember when I used to tease you for your hair?" Naruko grimaced, an attempt at still smiling despite the pain and she chuckled mirthlessly. _

"_Goodbye, Sasuke." She whispered as she gently poked Sasuke's forehead with her forefinger and middle finger._

_Her eyes closed._

Naruko closed her eyes as she summoned the last amount of strength she had. Her eyes reverted back to their cerulean form as she charged at Sasuke.

Her best friend. Her brother. Even a lover, she once could say. Not now though.

Because now they were dead people walking.

_Sasuke smirked at her, ignoring the onslaught around them as he scanned the girl in front of him. His best friend, his sister. Even his lover in a sense before all _this _happened. _

_Hearing the foolishness, the pacifism leaking out of her mouth made him both smirk and frown. He opened his mouth, and the field became deadly silent, waiting for the first word spoken from one of the strongest enemies and their stomach dropped when the strongest person on their side's eyes dimmed and legs buckled._

* * *

"_You're a dead person walking."_

"You're a dead person walking, Naruko."

* * *

"I know." Naruko whispered.

Her voice became hoarse and eyes turned panicked when Sasuke refused to move, her Rasengan fists cutting a clean hole through Sasuke's heart.

* * *

"It's a repeat of before isn't it?" Sasuke inquired, as if he wasn't dying. "I guess it's a tie now. I k-killed you once, you kill me."

"I-It d-doesn't work like that, S-Sasuke!" Naruko croaked.

"It doesn't." Sasuke agreed. "Which is why I'm giving you another shot."

_(He spoke clearly for someone dying.)_

"What?" Naruko sobbed, her hand frozen in her best friend, even lover as she crumpled to the floor, bringing a bleeding Sasuke in tow.

(_She was uncertain for someone so willing to die a moment ago)_

"Fūin." Sasuke said, his pointer finger gently touching Naruko's forehead as he used his other hand to cradle Naruko's face, peppering a small kiss on her forehead.

(_He was sure for someone who spent his whole life confused)_

"Go." Sasuke whispered, breaking their bond once more. With that one word, Naruko collapsed, her body shattering into a million pieces as Sasuke crumpled to the floor.

The sky wept.

* * *

(_"Live" He said, as he died)_

* * *

_("Don't. Stay!" She said as she left)_


	2. Chapter 1 - Fragile

**05/03/16: Later than I wanted but I can't really be faulted (or can I)? I'm additionally sorry If I don't give out much Kakashi x Naruko moments because I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I made it this pairing (I was probably high of the Miraculous episodes or something like that lol) but Sasuke x Naruto is my favourite Naruto pairing so I'm so confused to why I made it Kakashi x Naruko**. **In this chapter there's a memory within a memory; the initial memory is **_in italics like this _**and the memory within the first memory is **_**written like this**_. **Additionally, if you've read this fanfiction before and came back because I've rewritten the chapters then I've changed the memory loss slightly to make it flow more and it will be written down below.**

**Naruko is 17 mentally, physically around 7.**

**Updated genres: Romance, Friendship, Tragedy.**

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Naruko faintly wondered why, even after everything had happened, she was still crying. The too familiar to think about wetness trailed down her cheeks and surprisingly she made no move to wipe it away. After being neglected and beaten – even tortured – by the majority of Konohagakure no Sato, and even shunned in foreign countries, until she had defeated Pein and risked her life to save them, she should have been used to this by now. Should have been used to the tiresome effort of trying to stop crying, only to cry harder when she couldn't seal the gates of her emotions.

S-Sasuke _used _to tell her, she nearly breaks down right there in her position half-drowned in the sewer water, back when he was _alive_ , that eyes were the key to one's emotions and even if someone like Kakashi or a Root member like Sai shielded their emotions or covered their eyes you could still see it. The remorse. Regret. Guilt. Sadness. Anger. Feelings Naruko was feeling right at this moment.

She is lying down in the sewer water her control slipping every passing moment as the water begins to seep into her clothing and rests against her skin, the almost still slushing and churning of the water soothing Naruko. In her position, back pressed firmly against the water – there was never a floor or surface, just endless pools of water up until the Kyuubi's cage – she seriously contemplates just plunging her body a _little _further. With her emotions like this and her, control dropped she could easily die right here. A slit of the wrists or the submerging in the dirty water and then she could be reunited with her loved ones. It sounded like a good idea.

The ache in her hand throbbed once again. Mirthlessly, Naruko chuckled as a fresh form of tears blinded her eyes for a moment. Her quiet sobs escalated until they were screams and pleads as the scars left on her right hand burned as if trying to push her over the edge.

But she knew it wasn't trying to. The burning on her right hand was trying to push her to a reaction; even to scream. Because as the Sandaime had once told her "_the body is amazingly but frighteningly determined. We catch viruses to become immune to them, we nearly die to find ways to survive. The human body goes to dangerous extremes to get the basics to survive. Naru-chan did you know that when we go comatose it's our bodies shutting down the kinetic movement so it can focus on healing ourselves. But it's a long tedious process…. I guess it's just like living and dying; a long, long tedious process…" _

She knew it was a long tedious process. She just wanted to die. At least dying was easy.

"_**You're an idiot, you know the right?**_" The Kyūbi said staring haughtily down at Naruko.

"I know," She responded easily as if she wasn't half submerged in chakra-fused water, the slightest charge of active chakra able to at the very least leave her comatose. "Aren't we all?"

"_**Nani?**__" _Kyūbi said, endless red orbs staring Naruko down as its slits narrowed.

"Wasn't it you who said exactly twelve years ago that we're all idiots?" Naruko spoke grimly, twirling dainty slender finger around her blonde locks. "That we destroy each other from inside to out, burning up our negative emotions until there's nothing but a carcass of our old selves?"

Kyūbi frowned. When had their Jinchūriki—child even, become so grim. The war had done things to an already damaged person, irreplaceably shattering the once shining girl. "_**Naruko…**_" Kyūbi rumbled, a low puff of smoke wafting in the air. "_**Not even Hagaromō could save everyone. He made mistakes, he made the mistake of trusting humans and look how it backfired**_."

Naruko cried a little more. Her heart shattered a little more; even the Kyūbi; the demon who was sealed inside of her agreed with her dying. At least, she'd be able to see them all aga—

"_**But look where it got me. I can't say I'm upset with ever meeting you, Naruko. Let me tell you this once and never again hopefully. You're irreplaceable. No—I don't mean you're damaged irreplaceable because I know that there is someone out there, other than I, who can make you whole because even an ancient fox had limits. I mean that there will never be another person out there like you, Naruko. Not just because you're the prophesied child-"**_

Gently, the Kyūbi poked their Jinchūriki right where their heart was located. Naruko didn't even flinch as she stared up into the endless pools. Kyūbi was a one-of-a-kind friend and confidant. Even a Father in all the places Minato couldn't fulfil. Out of a choice she no longer despised made by her father she had earnt a life companion and confidant.

Naruko smiled, pushing herself from the water. Though her heart was no-where close to being whole again she still had hope. However despicably small it was.

"_**I'll tell you this, Naruko. You're my kit. I've never felt this way about another Jinchūriki. Almost like the child I've never had. Naruko if there's one piece of advice this old fox can tell you is that you are the child who'll change the world, yes, but this doesn't mean you're restricted and must follow fate. Remember what you told Neji? Always follow that. I'm glad you've matured so much. From the brash child who complained about not having a Kekkei Genkai like S—the Uchiha, to someone who proudly wields the Rinnegan of the Legends.**__"_

Naruko brushed away the tears collecting on her waterline. Though she still had her doubts and still was as fragile and dangerous to herself as broken glass she had her gloves—her Kyūbi who would be there for her an eternity and beyond. Where he went, she did.

"_**Live**_."

(_**Have the dreams and life you never did before.**__)_

* * *

Naruko opened her cerulean blue eyes; broken and dulled eyes staring up at the equally blue sky above her. She closed her eyes once and opened them slowly as if slowing her movements. In a dry, raspy voice she spoke for the first time it what felt like forever. "I know you're there ANBU." At this point a choked sob nearly broke through but she quickly pushed it down. "You're here to kill me, capture me, torture me; which one huh? I can tell you already I've already been through all of them before, you don't scare me."

She slowly pushed herself up, ignoring the protest of her limbs and the armed ANBU as they appeared from hidden in the corners of the forest. Her eyes almost widened in panic and fright as she studied the small limbs, almost three times smaller than her seventeen year old persona – the typical for a malnourished child. She threw the ANBU guards a sad smile, ignoring their reactions as a small fire red kitsune curled around her feet. She smiled despite the situation; though Kurama was tired he still was there for her. Her only companion in this new, confusing world.

The ANBU circled her, two of them covering the tree tops on either side just in case she tried to take off. The first one, genderless and un-identifiable except for the dragon mask that covered the identity of the ANBU. Even the voice was untraceable.

"You're to report to Konoha." They said simply, no hint of emotion in their voice.

"Okay." Naruko said simply, too tired to argue. Too tired for anything, actually. Everything she was doing right now just seemed like a tiresome event that could easily be solved by her death.

If they were surprised they didn't show it.

She wouldn't have either.

_Everything is different _She thought as she stepped through Konogakure no Sato once more. This was the half-dozen time she had entered the village from 'The Great Naruto Bridge' all the way to 'The Fourth Shinobi War' where that war she had thought would be the end of her.

_Well look at me now I guess _She mused. Currently she was surrounded by ANBU as they informed the Hokage of their arrival and made their way to his office.

She felt empty.

She didn't know what she expected to feel when she discovered she was arriving at Konoha and would meet her _father_ or the Sandaime depending on the exact timeline which she knew not. She had expected to feel something akin to fear, worry, and anticipation maybe anxiousness. Maybe even anger on Kyūbi's behalf. But no. She felt nothing at all. Not a single feeling besides the numbness of the events in the past…

_(How long had it been?)_

Suddenly, she was outside the Hokage's door.

(_How long would it be?)_

The dragon-masked ANBU raised their fist, gently knocking seeing as it wasn't a notification of their arrival but a respectful gesture seeing as the Hokage already knew they were there.

(_Was she even alive?)_

The door opened and Naruko shuffled in quietly, Kyūbi curled around her neck gently.

(_How could this numbness be explained?)_

She bit back a gasp as she saw her Father. She reprimanded herself. She knew it would probably be Minato, in his early twenty-something glory. He looked a day younger than the moment she last saw him, that surprisingly soft moment when Minato asked if Sasuke was her boyfriend – the protective fire burning in his blue embers.

"Hokage-sama." She said, bowing lowly before the ANBU could even look at her to do so.

She could _feel _their shock.

"I'm sure you can tell from just looking at me that I'm in bad shape. I've got a half-broken rib and spine and I feel like I want to die, I was _this _close from committing suicide before your ANBU came." Not a lie but not the full truth; in a world like this there rarely was whole truths between strangers and surprisingly enemies were more truthful to each other sometimes. "I just need a moment for my side of the story. No ANBU. No tracking devices. Just a talk between a half-comatose seven year old and a Hokage."

Minato nodded, his face grieve.

_(The speech alone from a seven year old spoke years about this small figure. They were wise beyond their years.)_

The moment the ANBU left, Naruko's body shook with unshed tears. "I'm sorry," she said wiping them away.

"It's a bit overwhelming."

(_The unspoken words: 'I'm overwhelmed over seeing my Father after he died and was brought back as my enemy twice times over')_

She lifted her right palm, the engraved Kyūbi symbol on her right hand. "I doubt you know what this is as it's centuries old. This is the sign of the prophesised child; the one who made friendship with the Kyūbi; descendant and 'son' if you must say of Hagaromo."

She held out a scarred palm. "Please…"

Minato drew in a deep breath, nodding his head as he accepted the Memory Jutsu.

_Naruko drew in a shaky breath, her eyes leaking tears and her skin bruised and torn up from another torture session from the more hateful ANBU members. One with a strange pattern of a torrent of shades of black and grey – it scares her how they have no animal or anything to identify by – and the other the complete opposite with a spectrum of colour. They whisper as they leave, bodies untouched by blood besides their hands, "within due time," and then they're gone…_

_**Naruko stopped crying a long time ago. Now, the tears just collect in the corner of her eyes. She tries to tell herself she's done this before but she hasn't. Blood is everywhere; and in morbid fascination she never realised a human could produce this much blood. But, no – they tell her that it's because of the demon inside her. She's too young to understand what they mean by demon inside her but she presumes it's just another way of saying she's a demon.**_

"_**You don't understand," the monochrome one speaks, their hands tucked behind their back as finger a small button. **_

"—_**You're too young to understand the responsibility placed upon you, prophesied one." The one with the array of colours speaks, their voice hushed and lowered 'till it sounds like there is no gender. No identity.**_

"_**P-Prophecy?" She gargles out, blood bubbling along with the saliva. She's worn out- she's tired-she wants to sleep. She tries to close her eyes but her body refuses. It surprises her how much the body clings onto life**_

"_**Yes. The prophecy."**_

_**She's surprised she wasn't hurt for talking. Every other time the screamed or sobbed the pain became even worse from slow roasting embers to an explosion of lava in the core of her body."**_

"_**A student of Jiraiya would change the world"**_

_Her hand claws at her throat. She cries, tears spilling from her eyes and body shaking from the _**need**. _The need to continue surviving even though she wants nothing more than to die at this moment. In the small abandoned shack they left her in, her throat is dry from crying, her face is flushed with a torrent of emotions, her neck embedded with crescent moons of her sharp claw-like nails. Her body is withering, she knows this. She could easily take her life. As if mocking her to do it, there's a bundle of rope on the floor. As if they were telling her she could take her life but she'd be more the coward than Konoha itself. _

_She just wants to give up. She doesn't wish to live anymore. The whispers in her head, the whispers hummed in the very earth, the whispers cradling her ear luring her into persisting on can be ignored, she argues. Ha, if anyone saw her they'd take her straight to a mental institution with how blown out her eyes are, wide and frightening on anyone regardless of age, how bloody her lip is from biting down on it to stop the pain, how fragile – like glass – her body feels after being whipped, being electrocuted, being starved. She hasn't eaten in nearly a month. She knows it'd just take one more push before she fell over the edge. _

_She didn't understand, she thinks as her quivering hands pull the rope out of it's tie. She didn't understand how everyday the mothers who shooed their children to school with a fond smile or off to a mission with worry, or even how the old baa-chan's showed their tough love even if they did smack their children on the hand or arm could switch like a flip and scowl and sneer at her. Yell threats and insults at her. _

"_You filthy no-good demon! Die! I hope my son kills you! Why this scum beneath my feet is still alive still bewilders me!" They yell only to coddle and cosset their child later._

_(First, she stopped showing the signs of being a prodigy – it made them angry for her to act like their Yondaime)_

"_She's a demon, Kaito. Don't go near her."_

_(Then she soon tied her hair back so she didn't remind them of the Yondaime)_

"_Disgusting scum. Die you beast." _

_(After she stopped acting how she wanted to – she acted stupid, stopped being the feminine deity she could have grown into)_

"_Don't go near that monster."_

_(She stopped being quiet – became a troublemaker so she could attract attention)_

"_Why is it still alive?"_

_(Then… she closed of her emotions.)_

"_We'll see you tomorrow…"_

_(Her torturers always said)_

"_I wish you'd just die"_

_(Her torturers always said as they left her bleeding out, snarling when they saw the Kyuubi work to keep her alive. Sometimes they grinned; knowing their favourite playtoy wasn't yet dead.)_

"_I'm sorry, Naruko. I can't be there for you anymore. If you see me in the streets, please, just turn your head away. You wouldn't understand—"_

_(But she did)_

"_I've become something unexplainable—"_

_(But in reality it was simple)_

"_I've become a real monster"_

_(They became a real monster)_

* * *

_**I'm sorry the ending is a little rushed :(**_


	3. Chapter 3 - Comfort

CHAPTER 3

She was tired of the same emotions barrelling into her at every moment. It wasn't the kind of tired when an older sibling gets annoyed and frustrated with their younger sibling's antics. No, it was the kind of tired that drilled its way down through your skin and to your bones. The type that wore you down from the inside and left you feeling empty inside. The kind that made you give up on hope.

'_I've really been pessimistic lately, haven't I Kurama?' _Naruko thought as she quietly trailed behind Minato, not a single feeling in her bones pushing her to grab her father's hand. If not for her life and the way she was forced to live it maybe she would have. Maybe if she knew that he wouldn't be ripped away from her like all the others she had gotten close too.

_**You can't be faulted for it, kit**_ Kurama quietly spoke back, wary red eyes scanning the roads ahead them – the treatment their child received honing their paranoia and alertness while in Konoha. These people had broken Naruko once and Kurama couldn't bear to see it happen again.

Or maybe it already had.

_I can be faulted for anything and everything. It's the price of being a Jinchūriki, Kurama _Naruko spoke, her voice brittle and dull and her eyes blank. The kind of blank that made Naruko feel sick in her own skin.

_**Self-loathing is what got Sasuke where he is **_Kurama reprimanded before turning on his heels and walking away

"Ah, where is i—he going?" Minato questioned. His usual cheery smile was long gone replaced with a poor imitation of it; his mind still grim from the memories the sheer _onslaught _of them.

"Like everyone else they have their limits when it comes to me." Naruko whispered back.

"Come." Minato said so quietly Naruko could barely hear. The blonde Hokage couldn't stand seeing _this_ though he wasn't yet sure of what that was.

Naruko slipped her hands into Minato's large, warm hands and despite never feeling like she'd be whole again and the bubbling pits of hate coiling still, she felt a little better.

She didn't know what she wanted or expected to feel. She couldn't describe the ever-so familiar numbness that filled her whole body; the one that reminded her of her lost love as he stole her very soul and life from right infront of her eyes. Maybe she was supposed to feel hope, love, and anger. Anything. But all she felt was the numbness in the toes and hands, the clamminess of her skin and the death-like coldness she felt rush past her spine.

Because Kushina was aware of another Kyuubi.

Maybe not exactly, Naruko for all her wits couldn't tell. Maybe Kushina knew nothing but the woman wasn't once the Whirlpool princess for nothing. Kushina knew that something was off the moment Naruko stepped afoot in this place. This confusing, odd, _different _world with no-one she knew or could completely trust besides her father, even then she felt the odd numbness around him sometimes, and Kurama.

But even then when would the two grow tired of her self-loathing and her hate?

They didn't understand. Possibly Kurama though it was unlikely. They had led lives for the major part in peace though they were both practically orphans, Minato's mother dying in childbirth his Father running off with a civilian to which the two were killed by rogue ninjas.

Minato didn't know that yet.

Besides that, they couldn't fathom to know how strong and how much of a real _monster _depression and self-loathing was. Before back when Naruko was fine, well as an orphan abused child could be, she thought that Sasuke just needed a companion and friendship to break it. But now she was standing in his shoes, his dead shoes she could joke mirthlessly, she understood how hard it was to break out of the repetitive circle.

Almost like 'curse' of hatred on the Uchiha clan, dating back to Madara and possibly even before.

Naruko tried to come out of her thoughts when she arrived at what she guessed was the Namikaze compound. She never did have the chance to check it out in her previous life, too consumed with bringing back and saving people she never did have the chance to do anything for herself really. Even eating ramen at Ichiraku wasn't for her at all, it was to ease the worries of those around her by making them think she was back to normal if she was still devouring ramen owls after _another _failed retrieval of Sasuke and by 17 people were so used to it they didn't even think she was sad for a moment besides the few like Shikamaru and Neji who could actually 'see beneath the underneath'.

Hearing anything akin to what her sensei, Kakashi, had said still struck a chord in her heart. She knew that there was a possibility, unlike the near impossible chance with people such as Sasuke and hesitant-to-call-friend Sakura, that Kakashi was alive. _If_ he was, and she was hoping not because she didn't know if she'd be able to cope with knowing that the _boy_ in front of her was nothing like the _man_, confidant, even crush when she was younger, she had grown to love and care for. Knowing that he was so close and yet so far. She wanted nothing more than to run into his arms, however small and frail they could be, and show him her memories but that was selfish. _Selfish indeed_. To force him to have the burden and knowledge of a mentally 17 Jinchūriki when he was only physically 7 and mentally some years older.

In a world like Naruko's there was no time to be selfish.

Which is why she didn't want to be here. Didn't want to be standing infront of Namikaze porch where she could _hear _Kushina – her _Mother _– humming under her breath and the faint jingles indicating Kushina was probably investing her time in a hobby of hers. It made her heart break a little more; knowing that this Kushina wasn't yet war-hardened besides the small glimpses of her family dying in front of her eyes. It would probably never compare to the tradegy she'd have to go through in the Third war and Naruko being thrown into the mix.

Naruko just wanted to run, like she always did. She always ran away from her problems.

She always did.

* * *

_Sasuke sighed, shaking his head mockingly as he stared at Naruko. "You're not doing this for me are you?" _

_Naruko's eyes widened. "W-What are you talking about?" She spluttered, her position defensive and her eyes cold. "I trained with Jiraiya for three years and nearly died with him just so that I'd be strong enough to bring you back and yet you tell me that I didn't care for you?"_

"_Wrong." Sasuke said, smirking slightly. "I know you care for me. Too much even. That wasn't the point. You cared but everything you did wasn't to help me; it was to run from your own problems. To run from the village hating you, Sakura envying you because who envies a Jinchuuriki because she was closer to the 'love' of her life. Running away from the council trying to push you to taking the Namikaze name. Trying to hold the wishes and hopes of everyone almost like a wish tree.(1)"_

_Sasuke chuckles mirthlessly. "You're a coward. All you do is run from your problems and yet you try to stop me from 'running from my problems'." Sasuke un-sheaths his sword and his eyes form into the Mangekyo Sharingan; the upgrade he received from killing Naruko. "How hypocritical, Naruko."_

"_I'm not running from my problems. I'm actually removing the causes of my problems. And I'll start with you…"  
_-

* * *

"I'm pretty sure you know who Kushina is, right?" Minato questioned, nervously scratching at the nape of his neck.

"Yes." Naruko replies back, distracted in looking up at the cloud-less sky littered with glowing stars and a celestial-white moon.

Minato's eyes soften slightly. "She'll love you… after she gets over her 'Habanero personality' that is. All the Uzumaki's seem to possess a temper.'

'_Except for me it seems. I'm such an irregularity aren't I?' _Naruko thought, not caring if by now she just sounded annoying and overly pessimistic.

"Ah… come in!" A loud and boisterous voice rings from a room to Naruko and Minato. The two blondes, though one blond like the sun and the other with hints of red in it, step in rather nervously.

"I've just finished dinner, Minato-san, Guest-san(2)"

"Kushina-chan, you wound me!" Minato joked, slinging a toned arm around a slender pale neck. He inhaled the exotic mixture of the waves of Uzushio and the faint smell of rose. "Why so respectful."

When Kushina giggled and turned around she saw Naruko standing there with a blank expression on her face, leant against the entrance to the kitchen and arms crossed over petit, black-clad clothes. "Ah nevermind then Guest-chan. I thought you were one of those uptight chairmen who want me to be this idiot, dumb, submissive housewife – though I have nothing against the majority of them except for that she-witch Mibuki – so that I can combine the Uzumaki bloodline with the Namikaze by having tons of children they'll raise to be their slaves."

Minato sighed. "She always has so much to say about this," he said jokingly, yelping with Kushina punched him in the arm.

"So," Kushina said, grinning down at the girl. "Who are you."

"Uzumaki Naruko." She said softly, curling a small finger around the hem of her jacket. "Nice to meet you Uzumaki-hime."

Kushina blinked in surprise, instinctively straightening her back and stepping backwards. "H-how do you know that?"

"I'm sure you were expecting or atleast assuming that I was an Uzumaki through something like a distant relative. What I'm about to say isn't something that can be discussed lightly while standing at the entrance of the door," Naruko said softly looking away from her _mother_. "If you would allow me so, please could we take a seat."

Naruko drew in a deep breath, willing the tears to stay behind as she'd always done; it seemed as if her age reversal also broke her emotional control a little. Her hands shook and she was quick to shove them beneath the dining table though she _knew _Kushina and Minato had seen them quiver as they rested clasped together. She couldn't appear weak in front of a woman who could snap her neck in the click of a finger; she didn't want distrust if she couldn't come up with the words to say and she didn't want pity if was a sobbing mess or just completely broke down.

She settled then for the blank mask of indifference and boredom, even though Sasuke had once said that the _eyes were the window to your soul_ and someone as expressive as her, whether it was the joy she felt around loved ones or the bone-rattling terror and sorrow she felt as she watched them die in front of her, she knew they could see every emotion she tried to hide.

She wished desperately at this moment that Kurama could have been here to help her though he knew better than she for he was wiser and older. He knew that she needed to do this by herself

And thus she did.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruko. I am not supposed to exist in this timeline—" Kushina tried to cut her off but Minato in a rare display of defiance, for he had absolute trust in his daughter and for he had not heard these words be spoken yet, sent her a look that left her dumbfounded in the absolute love and trust her fiancé had in the small girl.

She continued on as if she hadn't been interrupted. "I am due to be born around seventeen years from now on October 10th SEY537 (3), thirty-seven years after Kushina-san found Karin Uzumaki, once named Yau."

Kushina's eyes widened at the information, her eyes becoming watery with a distant hope and ever familiar sorrow. A small but grateful smile was set on her face. "I-Is she alive?"

Naruko gazed back at her mother, her expression filled eyes relaying her sorrow at what she was about to say. "I apologize. While I am not familiar with time-travel I have picked up some knowledge about it and I am aware that whatever information regarding future happenings I verbally relay the more it effects the future. While I haven't yet done so as I've relayed my information through a _Mind Jutsu _and I'd love nothing more than to do the same, I am confidant you don't need it."

"What—"

Naruko deposited herself of the chair and quietly moved her way to Kushina's sobbing form. It broke her heart, however hardened it may have been, to see her mother sobbing her heart out at the little hope she had gained being crushed beneath this small girl's shoe.

She rubbed soothing circles into Kushina's back, smiling fondly at the memories she had received later on in life about how Kushina would always complain about Naruko giving her back pains from the pregnancy, though deep down never truly hating it.

Slowly, she lifted Kushina's back frame until she was leaning back against the polished wood of the dining chair. When she had done so, she ignored Kushina slightly distrustful gaze, no doubt gained from her past experiences, and Minato's sceptical one as she gently prodded the section where her heart lay with her pointer and middle finger, reminding her of_ her _Itachi not the one Sasuke saw him as, and looked bravely into her mother's violet eyes.

"Don't rely on me to tell you what you already know. Rely on that _gut instinct_ and the love you hold for your sister to determine what you believe, _Kaa-san_. A wise person (4) once told me that before." Naruko smiled softly, one of her first genuine smiles in a while as Kushina scooped her up in her mother's lithe and strong arms and the two poured their hearts out in silent cries for each other.

Minato smiled, exiting the room gently. This was a moment between a mother and her daughter. He then remembered sadly;

A moment Naruko never had experienced before.

* * *

That night, Naruko was curled up next to her red-headed mother and her father as her own blonde with red highlighted locks draped over the three of them like a coppery halo or even a blanket of warmth.

Kushina, half asleep like Minato stared into his eyes with sad but hopeful eyes as he shared the same look. The two of them had both lost people prescious to them and had experienced sad and dreadful times but they knew that the blonde laying between them had experienced times they'd never witnessed even in the nightmares too strong for a dreamless sleep potion to cure.

Which is why in the dead of night, Kushina conversed with someone she'd always thought she'd leave to burn in hell.

(_And such dark thoughts plagued her as surprisingly, the little demon in her mind agreed whole-heartedly with her)_

And even if they couldn't do everything to helped they'd at least try their bests. Because that was what they wanted to do as her _parents_.

(_Her Kaa-san and Tou-san.)_

They'd make sure she lived the life she never had before.

(_Naruko was a haunted child.)_

A life without having to worry about who was trying to backstab her and who was trying to betray her wary trust

(_Kurama would change that. Give her back some of her innocence. Take away some of the pain.)_

She'd be able to _live _again. Just like how Sasuke told her to.

(_And he knew just how to do it_)

* * *

And for her happiness, the three would do anything.

(_To subdue them_)

* * *

_In opening 16, Naruto is seen near the end 'carrying' a wish tree that most likely contains the dreams and hopes of everyone. The tree represents all the wishes Naruto is making come true and all the hope everyone holds for him._

What kind of ninja would Kushina be if she couldn't sense a guest even if she doesn't know specifics. Secondly, she just assumed that the guest was someone in the council or such so is making herself seem more respectful and more of a housewife, something the council would likely try to mould her into so she could settle down, and submissive than loud.

(Shinobi Evolution Year 537)

You can interpret this as whoever you want, really. You can see this as anyone from Kurama to Hagaromo to Itachi and even Kagura if you wanted. Though the people who don't really fit the bill are her friends, minus Shikamaru and Shino, as I don't really believe that they'd say this.

* * *

_Question: Do you like, or not like, the idea that Naruko can be interpreted to having feelings and relationships with other characters besides Sasuke depending on if you see it or not? Like how in this chapter you can see her having a romantic or just platonic love for Itachi. _

_**Additionally, please review and follow and/or favourite this story! It means the world to me and each review motivates me to write more. It doesn't take even a minute to review so please do so :) **_


	4. Chapter 4 - One Rational Bijuu

**HB: *Sheepish* Ano sa… I feel like quite the hypocrite now. On other fanfictions, I get upset whenever they don't update but I have a real reason to why I haven't been able to update until now. My. Laptop. BROKE. I know; end of the world! And after a month of contemplating if I should just wipe my laptop or use the insurance (you know… the invisible one) I actually just sucked in a breath and decided to get a new laptop. I sent my broken one to America, where a friend is staying, to be fixed and when it's fixed my friend can have it. I also have something the confess; I find it extremely hard to stay in character especially when there are so many things I want to do with this story. So from this point, as you know the story is AU but it also has its fair share of OC characters now. I will be trying to keep Kakashi in character and thankfully that's not too hard as he isn't the protagonist. So far, the only OC characters are Naruko, Kurami and Minato (maybe). Thanks for reading and I cannot believe I reached over 100 follows**

**WARNING: Slightly dark Naruko (negative thinking). OC characters. Kurami not appearing much (much like a side character)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 4**

Years of solitude and endless war had morphed Kurami into a rational Bijuu. In this sense, she was unlike the Ichibi who clung to the belief that the world should be splattered with humans blood. The Ichibi was a brash person thus allowing his beliefs to control him and shape him. Kurami was unlike him in that sense; she had _control _over _every little _move she made; she was a true fox. Every plan was cunningly thought out, like a Shogi board – In the world she lived in for millenniums, _she _was the dictator; she was the _empress_. The world, however, where she dictated – where she ruled as the Demon's demon, where _she _was the strongest – sane – Bijuu, finished a long time ago; Hagaromo had told her; Hashirama had told her; even Madara had told her the same thing _once _all on their deathbed's.

'"_The world will continue to move on without you."_. The world moving at a pace she was used to not; soon she would be swept up in the tides. She chuckled darkly, the fables said that she could conjure a tsunami with a sweep of her tail and yet, and _yet_, she would soon be swept herself.

A small, sorrowful, smile creeped onto her face and she closed her eyes, breathing out slowly. **The world **will **continue on without me. **

_AME_

Naruko continuously pushed herself to limit. From the moment she was unwillingly made the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi it was drilled into her mind that, being born into a world that hated you, that no matter how much _everything _ached -no matter how much she wanted to curl up into a ball and die - she had to put her foot down; she had to continue down the path that only few had taken before;the path of the Jinchuuruki.

So she continued fighting; she continued replying to the glares with smiles; she continued showing her mask. She continued for the sake of not only others, but _herself_. She remembered the first time she actually thought of herself and how satisfying it felt to not put others before her. She wasn't naive anymore; she wouldn't allow her beliefs to get herself killed. She only wished she learnt that when she 'died' for Sasuke.

The negative thoughts seeped into her mind and before she knew it she was regretting even coming back. With a sigh, one that spoke of what she had and what she _didn't _have, she continued her training.

When the war had started she realized that using a brawler's stance wasn't going to help herself fight against Madara Uchiha - a man with unfathomable strength and grace. So, as she had done many times before, she pushed herself. Pushed herself until she could go on no longer. Pushed herself until she had done it - until she had done what she knew nearly everyone doubted she could do; do something _without _the Kyuubi's power.

She scowled. That's another thing she hated. Everyone - _Everyone_ who called themselves _friends _constantly, even on their deathbeds, doubted her. They thought the only reason why she was nominated as Hokage was because her obaa-chan was the Godaime, knew her, was too lazy too be Hokage and because Tsunade must have feared the Kyuubi's wrath/power. They couldn't be considered friends. To any random person who asked her in her past timeline she would have listed off a bunch of people like Kiba, Sakura-chan and Ino. No, they weren't her _friends_. To anyone she knew - people she truly _knew _there was only family; and a few of them at that. Kakashi, Sasuke, Iruka, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Hiruzen and her parents. Those were the only people who saw past the mask she put up.

But, they were of the past. Her family in this timeline would be different. To name off the bat, Kushina and Minato was a alive. And considering the date, Obito and Rin - two people she never knew besides the former being _Tobi_ and an enemy - would most likely be alive.

She shook her head, trying to clear the oncoming headache. There were so many things she wanted to change yet she knew that she could only change a bit. Those seals suppressing some of her memories was what kept her sane and she wasn't going to become insane because of curiosity. Yes, she knew she had memories sealed; it was her own seal of course, but she didn't know what was behind it. And it would stay that way for a long time.

_Twirl, kick, punch, duck, flip, stance 1, kick, flip, leg sweep, roundhouse kick, palm thrust. _Those moves - that stance was what helped her defeat Madara. It was simple yet effective. It utilized the speed and stamina she possessed. She didn't doubt that if she kept using her brawler's stance - one that was roughly packed together using snippets of other Shinobi's stances - she would have been dead in the first day. The fight with Madara _Uchiha_ that had lasted 10 days had gone to her. She emerged victorious.

Naruko wiped the sweat that rolled down her forehead tiredly, blinking slowly. She had only a fraction of the strength and stamina that she once had. She probably only had High Chuunin, low Jounin levels. Despite this, she used the same routine Ero-Sennin that he had taught her long after getting the Toad summoning contract.

She blinked away the tiny black dots that seeped into the corner of her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed some medicine before it got worse. Her growling stomach indicated that she was hungry too.

"Might as well go to town."

* * *

She paid no heed to the whispers that exploded around her. She almost smirked; glad that this generation of Konoha was smarter. They were ovbiously piecing together where she came from. But at the same time she didn't want them to know she was their _daughter _from the _future_. She'd probably be branded as mentally insane - seeing as Kushina never appeared pregnant and was only 22; too young for a Shinobi especially when war was approaching in about two years. Yes, Konoha could tell that far away - products from Suna were decreasing in weaponry and the once high-quality clothing was now flimsy and dirty.

Naruko cocked her head; she didn't know where the nearest herb/med-nin shop was. She had been strolling purposefully around town and now was lost; her Konoha was nothing like this - even the tower appeared newer. She wasn't even looking where she was going and ended up bumping into someone.

Immediately, she bowed and apologized. "Gomenasai."

All she heard was a snort and immediately cocked a fist and waved it into the figure's face. Speaking of which, she couldn't even see the face as the light was blocking. As if listening to her wish the light dimmed and her world froze.

Her heart froze. Her eyes glassed over and her hands trembled. Tears clawed their way to her eyes and she could do nothing about it. Her starving stomach, once rumbling loudly every now and then, was now deathly silent. Her headache increased tenfold and black blinded her eyes as she lost control of her body.

Naruko didn't even remember falling.

* * *

HB: Please review, favourite and follow! ¬-¬

Sorry it was really short. Expect and update either next week or next next week; I will have summer holiday soon so I will be able to update every odd day!

HB: Would it be too much to ask to reach 100 reviews by chapter 15?

Sasuke: Obviously *rolls eyes*. Also, this chapter was too short to even get a single review

HB: So rude...


	5. Chapter 5 - Just a child

Chapter 4:

It was amazing how dark even children could be underneath the happy go lucky exterior and gummy smiles. Though less so in a shinobi world. In a clan like the Uchiha or even the Senju, even though it was now close to extinct with only a few members left, children from the main branch were learning how to utilize their chakra from the moment they uttered their first word or took their first step. Maybe that was how the curse of the Uchiha clan, the hatred and revenge, came to be. The constant pressure to be greater than the ones for you became to overwhelming. It didn't help that the main Uchiha trump besides their natural affinity for fire, their Sharingan, was loathed by even their closest friend for stealing their jutsu. The utter sadness, betrayal and hate even the closest of people to them must have felt when their jutsu, their original ones that they spent years and months maybe even _decades _on trying to master and perfect copied and completed in a matter of moments sometimes replaced logic.

It was even a dark and morbid bid between those Uchiha-haters of how many people in one of their generations would fall to the curse of the Uchiha ones, usually targeting the main members.

And for this, Kakashi was grateful he wasn't an Uchiha. He would joke if he was even just a little more sociable than he was, the awkward boy he was inherited from his Dad, that he was glad because he then wouldn't have to deal with the constant loss and gain of friends whether it was the hate of them or the lust – sexually or not.

But, alas, life was never fair. He lost his mother when his Mother when he was just a small child, barely past infancy, and he never experienced the utter joy or sadness of having a child.

Whatever, he didn't need one.

_Whatever, I DON'T NEED ONE!_

Kakashi shot up from the sprawled position on his double-sized bed, draped in monochrome shades. His usual gravity-defying hair was flattened and glistened with fresh, salty sweat. He cringed at the feel of beads of sweats and tears, combining into a dreadfully-pitiful mix, trailing down his cheeks and he wiped them away. His clothes felt tight on his skin and clung to them damply as he struggled to unbutton the striped mess. Clad in only his trouser bottoms he curled his arms around himself, fighting to ignore the onslaught of goosebumps crawling up his pale arms. The scratches of his training, already light pink with oldness, felt more toxic than ever and he fought to ease the itch. Knowing how he'd get, scratching at them until they bled red, he fought the temptation until the itch died down.

Sighing, Kakashi burrowed his face into his hands, quietly sobbing. He despised being weak in front of others, even though he was barely six. He knew it was a weakness in the eyes of Kages from the other five nations, most likely getting into the position from the ruthless iron-fist over them, so he didn't understand why the Hokage was so understanding of tears. Wasn't it a weakness? Wasn't it the Nidaime who had published the book (1) saying that tears was a sign of a weak-willed person? Or was it in a different context?

He didn't know

_I don't know_

He was just a confused child

_I'm much too confused for my age_

He was too weak

_I'm too weak to work out my problems_

He tried to stop the onslaught of self-loathing but alas it was too powerful for a small, scared child at one in the morning.

* * *

Kakashi rubbed his bleary eyes, inwardly glad that the puffiness seemed to have reduced and the red, vibrant 'look-at-me-i've-been-crying' colouring had faded to a more pink version of his cream-coloured skin. He quickly bathed, too sweaty and exhausted from his late-night wake up to skip showering like most people (2) would have this morning.

He slowly walked down the stairs, clad in basic training gear as he was attempting to construct his own jutsu. He had gotten started on the idea of doing something lightning based but he hadn't actually done much thought on exactly what he'd do with it, if it was defensive or offensive and even what rank he was going for. He wanted something A, bordering on S,-ranked but at his current age and skill level (just grazing mid-Genin) he wasn't really to start creating and developing such complex jutsu; maybe he'd start a base now and develop it when he got older and stronger.

Even though it was only a little past five am he hoped to utilize the whole day. It was both good and bad that his father was out on a mission to Sunagakure. Even though there was something a little dodgy going on with Suna, maybe the reason why his dad was sent there, his dad was too strong to be taken down by some measly suna ninjas. Though it did get him worrying. He'd be in their territory, where they were the strongest and were surrounded by miles upon miles of sand; their main medium for attacks.

N-No, his dad was smart. If they started attacking he'd throw them off course and then retreat back to Konoha. He cared about too many things to one, let himself be killed or captured – though just the word made him worry his lip a little (3) – and two, lead Suna right to Konoha. And being a valuable shinobi, Konoha would definitely back him up as soon as possible.

Without his mind cleared a little, Kakashi stopped quietly to pick up a peach seeing as he only had a bit of left over dinner from last night, they had tried to be a little more varying by using an odd meal called jajangmyeon?(4). Kakashi couldn't really pronounce the name, and Sakumo said it was from an odd place, in terms of difference to Japan, that was really far from Konoha and quite expensively priced here and cheap there. Before he had returned to _another_ mission he had apparently stopped there, or had his mission placed there.

Kakashi liked jajangmyeon, maybe he'd go there (to the country of jajangmyeon) in the future.

__**SMACK**__

__Ouch, __Kakashi winced slightly and almost scolded himself for it. If a simple collision with a __civilian __was enough to make him wince he would never survive in battle.

Being brought up by a father who __drilled __good mannerism into him, he held out his hand for the person but it was smacked away by the person's head when they shook it.

__Either she's rude or she is a ditz. __Kakashi thought, glancing at the mop of blond hair pulled into two spiky pigtails. __Probably a ditz.__

"Gomenasai," Kakashi said in that sweet, sweet __monotone__ of his. His eyes (a/n: ****were looking for you so I found you ****– next chapter dedicated to you if you know where I got that) were blank as he waited for the girl to do __something __rather than rub the dirt of her clothes.

"Ah," The person, most likely a girl from the high-pitched and feminine sound. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Gomenasai,"

Kakashi couldn't even hold back a snort. Watching this girl, so messily dressed now with her hair coming free of her bands was a hilarious – and he would never admit it but an angelic – sight.

The next second was a blur. The girl had raised her fist childishly, waving it in his face when she looked up into his dark grey bordering black eyes and she froze. He raised an eyebrow yet again.

The world froze when she fainted. Outwardly, Kakashi merely stepped forwards and caught her before she fell before cradling her in his arms but inwardly Kakashi had moved on instinct and hadn't even registered he caught her until his body made an awkward transition from gripping her shoulders to carrying her.

He was curious to why this little girl, probably at most a year older than him though acting a lot younger, was up at 5 am without her parents though he was in no place to question such things.

The second reason to his sudden kindness was because Sakumo had raised him to be a helpful child who helped those in need and ignoring someone who needed help was like stamping on his grave.

So with a sigh, he leaped over the buildings carrying a surprisingly light girl with him.

* * *

_1-Tobirama seemed the most ruthless of all the Hokages and I just believed him the most likely to have designed a rule book that says things like crying is weak-willed people._

_2-It's pretty common actually to bathe in the night and not in the morning. I do it every day for school because I don't really have the time or energy too. Some freshen up a little by spraying themselves or doing touch-ups but its not that nescessary. _

_3=Bite your lip._

_Jajangmyeon _자장면 is a korean style chinese dish. I'm not sure if in the Naruto world, the continents we're told of makes up Japan or if its the entire world. I like the idea of there being more countries but not the whole world.


	6. Chapter 6 - Hetakuso!

**At this age, Kakashi is developing the Chidori although right now he's just getting a small fizz and combustion in his face.**

**Honestly, I didn't feel like writing this scene at first so I'm sorry if it seems rushed at first.**

へたくそhe-ta-ku-so – someone lacking skill/clumsy

* * *

Kakashi cursed not for the first time as he watched the time move on without him. At this moment, he was supposed to be practicing a Katon jutsu he had recently unearthed from the Hatake scroll vault and would have had another jutsu in his arsenal if not for the blonde in front of him.

Levelling a glare that could make even the Hokage shake, Kakashi got of the chair he was sitting on and tucked the rickety old thing into the desk that was crammed into the corner. Although many things were thrown here and there, it was actually quite comfortable, Kakashi begrudgingly admitted. Shooting a scowl at the girl for wasting his day – he had noticed it was already 1500; he had lost over eight hours to this girl! – he was prepared to leave and try to make up for his lack in training.

Just as he quietly opened the door, slipping a foot trough the small crack there, Kakashi froze—he could almost see his Mother, with sorrowful brown eyes, shaking her head in dissapointment. Kakashi cast his eyes down in shame; his Mother wouldn't have been proud. He collected his thoughts and like the figment of imagination his Mother was right now, she disappeared. The blonde must have driven him crazy.

Two small figures were dropped onto his shoulders, one holding a forming Chidori and the other honing its senses with the chakra in the air. He guessed the former was his "evil" side and the latter his "good" side. Kakashi almost snorted. Shinobi's were tools of war; no shinobi was evil. They all did it for survival and that made them not evil or good people but survivalists.

_"Hm…." _The 'good' one spoke softly, representing a side of Kakashi the boy himself hadn't seen since before the war had escalated. "_You're going to leave this defenceless girl all by herself? Her parents wouldn't be pleased… for all you know, she could be the long-lost granddaughter of Tsunade or something…"_

**_Yeah right_**, the chidori-Kakashi spoke **_She probably belongs to some no-name merchant-ko. She's wasting all your time. With all the time she wasted, you could have started mastering that jutsu. She's a waste of time-ko._**

Kakashi agreed with both of them and now he was in turmoil. It was his job as a (soon-to-be)ninja to protect the civilians of this village. Fellow Konoha shinobi too. But at the same time, how could he be strong enough to protect the rest of the villagers if he missed out on an opportunity to start mastering a C-rank jutsu.

Kakashi steeled his resolve; he _had _to get stronger.

* * *

Kakashi had not even taken three steps outside of the blonde's hospital room when he heard loud panicking.

"Nani?!" He heard a loud, powerful male yell almost childishly, "She has blonde hair styled into pigtails right?"

It took Kakashi a moment to piece together who it was. When he did he froze; Namikaze Minato, the Hokage in process; a badly kept secret. Before that, he was reknowned as Konoha's strongest Jonin; a prodigy in a prodigy some said.

He just desperately hoped there was _another _blonde haired girl with pigtails.

"Hatake Kakashi brought her in?!" Came a squawk. "That good for nothing boy… he's planning to steal _my _Naruko!"

Minato pumped a fist into the air, resembling a certain bowl-cut civilian with muscles akin to Chuunin's. Kakashi shivered.

"What room is she in?" Minato grew serious, staring the Yamanaka in the eyes. Icy blue and sky blue eyes clashed before the Yamanaka sighed, though not giving up completely.

"Before," She said professionally, bringing out a clipboard and clicking the pen, "I tell you what room she's in, I need to know your relations to her so I can deem you harmless."

Minato shot her a grin; "I'm her brother." He said, the grin taking up half his face. "Now, what room is she in?"

"Room 237," The Yamanaka said tiredly. Kakashi could vouch for that; both he and his new girlfriend had bubbly attitudes. Maybe a bit too bubbly.

"Ah, this bypassed me completely but who took her in?" Minato asked the woman

The woman's upper lip curled up into a sneer, "Hatake."

"Hatake Kakashi…" The world tumbled off his lips and fixing a smile back onto his face he nodded to the woman and set off towards the door.

Kakashi was perfectly contempt with standing there and not moving; how could he after all— he _knew _what Minato was thinking. He'd probably be skinned alive for moving anywhere near Minato's sister.

"Hatake Kakashi," Minato spoke slowly, as if contemplating whether he should sneer at the boy or smile. "A pleasure, I'm sure. Now, what's my sister doing here?"

The Shinigami itself loomed over Minato's back and his cerulean eyes gained a dangerous glint to them. Kakashi gulped.

"The blon—" Kakashi rephrased himself as Minato's fingers twitched just a tiny amount. "Your sister ran into me. Just as she was about to apologise, at least I think she'd have enough manners to, she looked at me and fainted."

Minato looked ready to strange the boy. Kakashi started back peddling and not even a second later Minato followed, eyes twitching widely. "So, _Kakashi_—"

"Tou—Nii-san!" A high-pitched voice rang out.

Immediately, the devils receded and angels sprung out along with a harmless and bright smile. Minato swooped down and ruffled Naruko's hair. "Haven't been _too_ much trouble have you?"

"No, nii-san!" Naruko smiled before shooting two sour looks. One at the dress she was wearing and where she was and the second at Kakashi.

"You!" She squawked unattractively, although at this point who cared, jabbing a finger between his eyes. "You… You… _hetakuso!_" Minato stifled a laugh and Kakashi shot him a glare; obviously he would take the blonde's side.

Kakashi gaped behind his mask, "Yeah right… baka." This time Minato exploded in laughter and Naruko snorted.

"Baka… the best you could come up with?" Naruko snorted before running a hand through her blonde locks although they were rumpled and coming loose from their band.

"Hn." Kakashi scowled, turning on his heel. "Now you're okay, I'm leaving."

"_WHATEVER!_" Naruko yelled as he disappeared from her sight.

"Bastard." Naruko mumbled only to be smacked upside down the head by Minato.

"Your just as foul mouthed as your mother!" Minato humphed.

"Wait…" Naruko said quickly, shifting to a thoughtful pose. "How come to Jiji and the Hokage tower, you're Yondaime-sama but to everyone else your Minato-san or Jounin-san from strangers?"

Minato smiled, looking down at her with bright blue eyes. "I would have said a ryo for your thoughts but my bank would have been empty with how much you just said—" at this, Naruko blushed, scratching her head, "But, you are right. Me being the next Yondaime was supposed to be a secret and I was supposed to be trained in secret but a couple of nosy receptionists spread the news all around Konoha. Some still refuse to acknowledge me as Hokage as some believe Orochimaru-san would be a better choice…" He trailed off, looking at one of the Hospital walls with cloudy-blue eyes.

Naruko felt a pang of guilt… and something else. She knew where she felt the guilt from; Minato must have felt a bit upset that some people didn't want him as Hokage but she didn't know where the shiver down her spine came from. She was fine up until the moment when Minato said Orochimaru. Strange; she would have to forc—convince Kurami to tell her why, seeing as the Nine-tailed fox had started to become secretive about _her own _memories. Inwardly, Naruko snorted. It was her memories –ttebayo!

"Let's go. It's six already" Minato said, checking the time from the clock on the wall. He said it as if he was talking about the weather but Naruko froze.

Naruko blinked… "_WHAT?!"_

Minato smiled. "We're having Ramen for dinner; I didn't ask you, although you probably do but do you like—"

Minato was left talking to the air and the only sign someone had been near him was a small cloud of smoke, and a single leaf.

Minato, ignoring the fact that she could do a C-rank, although barely considering the fact that there was one leaf instead of the usual 6-10, crossed his hands in the Shunshin sign before disappearing in a small cloud of smoke. 12 leaves swirling slowly to the floor.

Even though Naruko was now home and in her sweet, sweet room – stomach stuffed with sweet, sweet, food by Kushina her mind still couldn't process the fact that she _knew _that ma—boy. Hmm, why did she assume he was a man before he was a boy. It was terrifyingly easy to see him as a tall masculine hentai – she didn't know why though – sensei even though he wasn't even a Genin let alone a Jounin. She shook her head and scowled into her pillows.

So many questions with a demon who was unwilling to give her the answers. And to make it _even worse _Kurami had used the beautiful scenery to hide her memory doors so she couldn't find them. Baka fuzbal… she yawned, rubbing her eyes as her head collapsed against her pillows

* * *

**_Interesting…_** _The figure observed, scrawling down the information on a small sheet of paper. **I'm sure **_he **_would find it interesting too. Lord Danzo, Lord Madara—I am coming soon._**


	7. Chapter 7 - Sakumo!

**I thought I'd make this chapter lighthearted filled with Rivalry and bushy brows before I started bringing in Obito and… Rin**

**Don't get me wrong, I like Rin but I have some… **_plans _**for her and they're not good ones.**

**PS: I was too lazy to write in the scene where she and Kurami enable the communication so just imagine it yourself "-" I'll be using it next chapter**

**Also, If you've already read this chapter before 08/08/2015 you won't know that I have cleared up previous chapters and erased the Sakumo being dead/alive problem!**

For the note this is their writing styles: **_Kushina _**_Minato _

Naruko's alarm went off with a bang. Literally.

She had programmed her alarm so that if she slept past all twenty-three alarms she set it would explode in a bang of noise that would leave hear deaf (with subtle ringing) for three hours; exactly one minute before Iruka would walk into class.

She couldn't believe she slept through 23 alarms!

Groaning heavily, she quickly zipped out of bed and took one look at her nest-hair through a dark orange mirror before flashing into the bathroom much like a certain Jonin we all know.

Naruko soon emerged from her almond-beige bathroom doors with a brush stuck in her nest hair. Dragging it harshly, she bit down a yelp although she knew not why. Kaa-san and Tou-san most likely had a mission first thing this morning and had to leave, to her dismay. She wanted to show of her excellent rame—breakfast skills.

"Stup—" She grunted, yelling out in pain when the brush buried itself into her hair again.

"WHATEVER!" She yelled to the skies, throwing down her brush and yanking them into pigtails.

"How could..." She paused as she tugged on a pair of navy blue leggings and an orange t-shirt, "Sakura like long hair? It's so troublesome…"

And easy to grab on if you weren't as unpredictable as Naruko. How she managed to evade Madara making a desperate grab for her with his Susanoo (during his dying moments) was a surprise. He _was _Uchiha Madara after all.

Pushing those thoughts to the side she stuffed her feet into blue combat boots that were surprisingly light and stomped down the stairs.

Halfway through, she remembered her bag which had her school supplies in them and dashed back upstairs.

Now equipped with her school bag, Naruko took one look at the clock set on the furthest right kitchen wall – which was a light tea rose colour… probably Kushina's choice, Naruko mused – she took one look at the time on the clock and the time in her school planner and cursed.

The clock read 8:30 and her planner for the school starting time read 8:40. The school was half an hour away if she walked normally… so around 15 minutes if she ran; 8 If she ran as fast as possible and _if _the road was clear.

Then her stomach grumbled and she groaned. She had forgotten to make her bento last night and was now facing the price of her actions.

Then, as if the God's – or to be precise Kushina and Minato – had smiled upon her she noticed a neon yellow sticky note hanging on the fridge that wasn't there yesterday. The note was half written by Tou-san and half by Kaa-san;

_Both we, the great Minato and Kushina _(great was scribbled out, presumably by Kushina) _thought that you may wake up very **a bit**_ _late so I ** we made you lunch. **We're sorry for not being around this morning; this happens sometimes. Hokage-sama, surprisingly, needed both our Fuinjutsu skills for this mission. Don't worry your messy bed-head hair that you got for Kushina ALONE (_a slight tear in the paper here and Naruko could practically feel Kushina's KI rolling in waves) _we made you bento and breakfast. It's not much but it'll do. _

_Do great and make us prouder than we are already_

_-Tou-san **Kaa-san and Tou-san **_

Naruko smiled before taking one last look at the clock before stuffing her lunch into her bag along with a small carton of milk and grabbing the small wrap they made for her breakfast.

Naruko heaved and gasped as she tore the sliding doors open and narrowly missed a green missile that shot past her as she shook her head. Her brain was so jumbled from the sprint that would make a Kage jealous that she couldn't even recognize the fact that it was a young Maito Gai in all his _youth_. Naruko sent a jealous look at all the other present classmates who got here without having to run, taking in their crisp look and her ragged own.

With that, she tugged both her hair and her clothes into place calming her breath with the thought of Ramen. Happiness started glazing her eyes and she would have been whisked into the world of Ramen-dreams if not for a slightly smaller figure bumping into her.

Immediately she bowed lowly. "Gomenasai," she mumbled and raised her head as she heard a scoff. She looked up, saw silver hair – _two pairs of silver hair – _and groaned. "Not you again…"

"Me?" She heard a deep masculine voice and looked up. Her Bingo book knowledge pinned him as the little boys dad and Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang. A near S-class Ninja

Naruko shook her head, shooting the little boy a glare. "Not you, Hatake-san. _Him_!"

She pointed at Kakashi wildly, almost attracting everyone's attention. But at this point she didn't care. This… This little _hetakuso _had lost her hours of training. Why couldn't he have just avoided her! His dad was a S-class ninja… The name hetakuso Kakashi matched him perfectly.

She conveniently forgot so was hers. At least she knew he would be soon enough because he was badass like that.

"Okay!" Sakumo said while grinning… He could see these two becoming much more than just friends! He couldn't wait to start the matchmaking, the schoolgirl side of him cooed. Wait 'till he told the Jonin squad about this!

"I'm Hatake Sak—"

"I already know of you, Sakumo-jiji. You're the White Fang!"

Ignoring the –jiji that was _already _on his name he nodded, impressed.

"Now, Sochi I won't be able to pick you up today. Asami-san will pic—" Sakumo started but Kakashi's eyes creased downwards indicating he was frowning beneath his mask.

"I don't like her…"

"But it's your first day of school you don't have friends to go to yet."

Kakashi's ears burned. "I know—"

Naruko butted in; "He can come to my house with Nee-chan and Nii-chan."

"Oh?" Sakumo raised an eyebrow. He could feel the pride rolling of her when she said Nee-chan and Nii-chan indicating that they were most likely shinobi. "Whats their name?"

"Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, —ttebayo!"

Sakumo had always been taught to conceal his surprise so if he felt any he didn't show it… He at least thinks so.

"Okay…" Sakumo waved to the girl as she took a seat near the back. "Be good!" He whispered

"But—"

"No buts!" His firm voice said with a lace of jest. "Now go, _hetakuso_," And with that, Sakumo vanished

Kakashi's ears burned. He regretted telling his sadistic father what happened.


	8. Chapter 8 - From Blonde to Naruko

**A Guest requested that I do this chapter in Kakashi's POV, again I guess because the Hospital episode was in his semi-POV. There are two sides to a POV; the one where it's first-person POV and third person POV.**

**Also, would you guys like me to keep Sakumo alive or should I just let it stay canon for now?**

**PS: Kurami is in this chapter with a tiny, cliché, twist.**

_Kakashi POV_

"Konnichiwa minna-san," The new academy teacher, Jin, said with open arms. "This—" he said, gesturing to the maps on the wall and the room in general, "will be your homeroom for the next three years, or a year depending on how good you were…" The man then trailed off and started talking about nonseness and pointless things, at least pointless to those who already knew the things he was talking about.

I scoffed. The Academy seemed like a joke already. Jin wasn't even a minute into his speech and I was already bored.

"Now," Jin said loudly, gathering the attention from those who has started to doze off and those who were _already _asleep (*cough* The Nara's *cough*), "that I am finished, I will begin the _assign _seats!"

At the word assign, many members of the class—including Naruko—starting groaning. I honestly didn't care however. As long as I wasn't seated next to Naruko.

I shivered as imagined sitting next to the blonde. He'd probably go blind from the blonde locks.

_Never_, I thought as I folded my hands beneath my chin, praying for the best.

-X

Jin was halfway through the list and I had been seated at the back in the corner. I, for some reason, decided that it wasn't best that I sit next to the window. You never know, the windows were wide, high and most importantly, _open_. I could save myself from a story-high building but in no way would I be able to save myself from a 4-story high school.

I scowled darkly; another thing I _couldn't _do.

"Uzumaki Naruko…" I held in a breath, crossing my toes, no matter how childishly, and hoping she'd be sat in the only remaining seat besides mine.

"…Uzumaki Naruko, next to Hatake Kakashi." Jin said, quickly moving on as he began to draw some symbols onto the chalkboard.

Naruko grinned, hopping up the stairs as the bundle of energy she was and plopped right next to me, taking the window seat. I grinned, maybe I could _accidently _push her out.

No… Minato would probably kill me. Tou-san too. Kaa-san would probably haunt me to death if the previous two hadn't already. I sighed. Maybe another day.

"Ano sa, ano sa!" Naruko, ever the blonde idiot, whispered not too quietly into my ear. _Just _loud enough for the Nara (judging by the fact that the girl was sleeping) to have heard if she wasn't sleeping. Then again, the Nara couldn't be justified as a girl seeing as—whatever, I don't care.

The _blonde _(seeing as I refused to recognize her by her name) continued to nag me even though I couldn't care less about what Jin was saying. Whatever Jin was saying, I most likely knew. He wouldn't teach theories Tou-san hadn't taught me until around year three/term six. SoI would be bored with no worthy competition for a while. I doubted anyone here actually knew of Chakra besides it being "a magical thing that made cool spells"… Yes, I actually heard this.

-x-

The first day of school and I was regretting it already.

I wanted to storm up to the Hokage and demand that he allow me to skip two years. But I doubt he'd let me do that. And I'd probably be killed by the ANBU for speaking to the Hokage like that.

The blonde wasn't any better. All she did was nag me and whisper none-too-quietly into my ear stupid things like how the ramen she had this morning didn't taste as nice as the one her Nee-chan made her.

Like I cared.

I'd rather confess all my feelings into a diary for the next ten years than speak to her for ten minutes.

Yes, I didn't hate her… I despised her.

She showed me up and made me look like a fool in front of my dad. Minato was out for my blood because he deducted, wrongly of course, that I _already _had a crush on her. Hell, I didn't even know her last name until a couple hours ago. How could I like her? Let alone love her...

The minute the end bell had gone off, I had dashed as fast as I can (while still looking like _me _and not some silly fool) out of the school, ready to wait exactly fifty three seconds until Tou-san had arrived. Sixty-five seconds later, I had realized—when the blonde had waved me over—that I was to go to her house, wherever it was, to stay there until nine when Tou-san finished his mission.

All in all, I was pretty impressed. I had read Tou-san's files for the mission and found out that the mission would have taken any lesser ninja three days to complete; apparently. A well-known person (I hadn't gotten far enough into the file to know exactly who) needed protection from some rouge-nin's. Judging by the fact that Tou-san said he would be back by nine meant that the person was very paranoid and even if it meant a tiring and rough travel, wanted to in Yuki in the same day. A B-ranked mission if I could remember correctly. Or A. I guessed because the rank wasn't there strangely enough and only the amount Tou-san would receive. I guess that the mission summariser/mission assigner had gotten lazy.

I trekked slowly behind her, paying little attention to the conversation in front of me. Apparently, the Nohara talking animatedly with her and the Uchiha boy—Rin and Obito I think—had claimed to live the same way she did. I knew that the Uchiha compound was her way but I didn't know of any Nohara's beside the Chuunin woman and the Jounin father, who I'm guessing are her parents. They weren't world renowned, hell, they weren't known outside of Konoha but they had a small reputation in Konoha.

I didn't like them already. The Uchiha was loud and annoying and the Nohara spoke too much, much like the Uchiha, and squealed too often. I reluctantly would have admitted that I'd rather speak to the blonde than them two.

Finally, the Uchiha and the Nohara – in that order – departed towards their own houses. I mapped the latter's small clan compound in my brain. I'd never know when that'd come in handy.

After five minutes with an unusually quiet blonde she turned onto a small road where a rather large compound sat. Surrounding the compound was a large garden with lush grass glittering from the light rain that had occurred during school. A couple of butterflies sat on tulips and roses. What intrigued me the most about the garden was the faint sound of rushing water and the small river that bended around the compound indicating a backyard.

For a couple moments, both she and I stood in silence and merely watched the compound in a silence I hadn't received all day. Eventually, however, she dragged my longsleeve and pulled me closer to a moderate sized gate.

I would have scoffed at the protection if not for barely noticing the small seal wound around the bolt of the gate. I was no seal master but even I could tell it was probably made for warding out those with evil intent or something like that.

She looked at me with those annoyingly-wide blue eyes as if asking if we should jump over the gate or press the buzzer or something like that.

Eventually, however, she just shrugged of her school bag, a small thing with only a couple of items (a pen a pencil a small book and was that… a flash of steel?) and pulled out small dangling keys. Pressing it against the gate it gave a small ping of acceptance and the gates swung open for a second.

She dragged me quickly.

"What was that for?" I shot her a glare, "I could have—"

The loud noise of the gate shutting cut me off. She grinned. "The gate would have trapped you between it and electrocuted you if you hadn't been quick!" She quickly started skipping. A few steps in front of me, she whirled around and raised an eyebrow at my slow walking. I didn't notice too much though, I was busy contemplating where they got that piece of technology. No, not where but how. It was obviously from either Yuki no Kuni or Sora no Kuni as they had the most advanced technology. But to get their items you would have had to pay more than having it custom made here or you would have had to strike a deal. I'm guessing the latter. Or maybe even the former. I heard that the woman here, the blonde's nee-chan, was the Uzumaki princess.

I sped up my walking a bit, noticing that she was nearing the front door. Taking my place besides the blonde I watched her shove her key into the door and pushed it open. While a door couldn't stop a shinobi it was probably enforced just like the windows which had an almost unnoticeable white tag sticking out.

"Tadaima(1)!" She yelled, flinging the door open. She quickly shut the door besides us after I stepped in and tugged of her sandals before slipping them into slippers.

"You can use this, Kakashi," She said, informally calling my first name, as she pulled out a pair of light brown slippers from a storage cupboard. I frowned, if these were used—"Don't worry, they're new!"

It was a bit scary how she could tell what I was thinking at that moment.

She took my bag for me along with my coat, seeing as it was a bit chilly today – even though I was a shinobi in training I still was a child who's body heat wasn't developed yet – and hung them on a hook. She then held my hand and dragged me into the nearest room which had bright lights on.

There was a woman with shockingly-red hair, almost habanero shade, washing dishes while humming to herself. On the stove was a pot simmering with steam seeping out a bit. Finishing up, she washed her hands and without even turning around she said,

"So this is the little _hetakuso_ you were talking about!" Kushina turned around and clapped her hands once before frowning at me.

"You look so stiff," she chastised… almost like a mother. I shook my head inwardly and smiled as best as I could—which looked constipated—and bowed. "Sorry. My name is Hatake Kakashi I'm your daughters classmate,"

I ignored the tease and she ignored how I avoided saying _her _name. It was childish and a bit rude but I was stubborn and I wasn't going to say her name with any suffix or at all until she proved herself as more than just a bumbling idiot.

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour. How about you and him watch some television or do some homework. Minato will be home in about the same time."

The blonde besides me grinned and dragged me upstairs.

"Voila!" She said, swinging her bedroom door open. Inside her room, the opposite of the pink room I would have suspected, was a burnt orange bedroom with a black orange and light blue theme. The floor was a plush light blue and her bed was a burnt orange with black silk sheets. Under the sheets was a thick duvet that was also black but with orange swirls. On her walls were a couple of kunai but that was it. In a strong, air-tight container was a long purple crystal (2) that was threaded through a black band. It sat there and for a second I wondered why she didn't wear it.

Maybe it was a heirloom or very expensive.

Like I cared.

"So," she started, chucking a grin at me so bright I felt the urge to cover my eyes. "What'dya wanna do for the next hour,"

"Half-an hour" I corrected her in an instant, more on accident than the urge to tease her.

"Let's play a game on my computer. Minato-nii got it for me from Yuki" Her eyes softened when she talked about Minato.

He must be precious to her, I mused. Likewise for them, seeing how he was willing to skin me a live when he saw me outside and not in the room watching her.

She quickly turned it on and typed in some letters before a slightly dim screen came on.

"This game is called…"

-x

Whether I liked it or not, which I did but said I didn't, time flew past quickly and before I knew if a small smile was on my face. I had forgotten about me becoming a ninja and even me surpassing my father. It was just this game, Naruko and I.

I didn't even realize for a while but I started to refer to her as Naruko. I don't know how her and I playing a game gained respect but maybe it was the fact that she effortesly managed the pressure of surpassing two powerful shinobi's (at least I thought so) and yet managed to be so bright and bubbly.

Something that made me grin wider was how much Naruko sucked at this game. It was hilarious.

She cursed lowly as I won for the thirteen time in a row. The scores were Naruko with 0 and me with 13. She was a sore loser, I learnt.

I also learnt a couple of other things about her. Her favourite colour was burnt orange or purple and she liked ramen. She was also another Uzumaki, half to my surprise because she was Uzumaki Naruko on the register just I hadn't really realized until now.

Just as I was about to win for the fourteenth time, a small dark orange cat with dark black stripes on it's underbelly and piercing red eyes slowly strolled into the room. It didn't even stop to look at me and just jumped onto Naruko's bed, curling it's body up before lazily lifting its head toward my direction.

"Oh," Naruko said, not shocked at all, "That's my partner-in-crime, Kurame(3)"

"Partner?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Partner." She said firmly. "She's a nin-cat but isn't officially on the list so she can't go on missions."

I nodded. Getting of couch we were seated on, I reached over the bed. I was unsure if she would like me. I had the scent of nin-dog's on me faintly and cats had excellent scent. If she bit me…

Instead, Kurame rubbed her head underneath the palm of my hand before curling back up and closing her eyes.

"Kurame is lazy," is all Naruko said to me before the loud slam of the door downstairs closing resounded throughout the room.

"Tadaima!" Minato yelled and in less than a second Naruko had sped down the stairs. I followed quick enough to see what was happening but not quick enough for it to look like I even remotely wanted to see Minato. Which I dang right didn't.

"Naru-chan!... And Kakashi-kun," Minato trailed off, a small gleam sparkling in his eyes before it went away.

"Let's have dinner shall we?" Minato shrugged of his Jounin vest and chucked it onto the hanger but carefully folded his robes and dashed up stairs. He probably put it in his room.

"Yeah. What's for dinner, K— Nee-san?" Naruko stumbled on a word but quickly continued.

"Ramen," Kushina replied softly.

Naruko and Minato cheered and Kushina grinned. Even I couldn't help but smile a bit, something they all caught.

I don't think this night was so bad after all.

X-

"_Are the preparations finished?"_

"_One more year, my lord. One more year."_

_The first person grunted and the second grinned deviously, his back turned to the first._

"_You must think you're in charge here. But just wait… Just wait… The seed of greed and hatred and… jealousy will bloom once again." The second mumbled quietly, once out of hearing range._

"_And all it takes is a couple of Genin's to start it all… And a war, of course. Nothing ever starts without a war."_

**AN: Thank you for 100 faves and over 100 follows! That means a lot to me! Thank you for following and thanks for the favourites and to make me even happier please leave a review and follow and/or favourite. That would make me the happiest girl in my house XD.**

**There was a bit of failed suspense XD**

**1= Tadaima means I'm home**

**2= The purple crystal is infact Tsunade's crystal but because Tsunade exists in this timeline and hasn't given Naruko her necklace two of the same necklaces couldn't exists in one world so Naruko's crystal changed colour from green/blue to purple.**

**3= Word may get around that the Kyuubi is Kurami. And it may considering what I want to do with my plot. So to be safe she and Kurami came up with the name of Kurame.**


	9. Chapter 9 - Rin's Conflict

**Hey guys! I said I wouldn't update for a while but I couldn't resist.**

**Apparently, my sister discovered this fanfiction. I'm not sure if you guys knew but my account is a shared account with one of my best friends called Kat (not her real name cuz hentai's be on ) isn't on this site much. Joint writing is hard for us so she occasionally writes a bit. I won't really say more because she didn't want to have this as an official collab. Also Kat drew a fanart for this fanfiction so I'll hopefully have that up by December.**

**Anyway, back to the fanfiction.**

* * *

**.**

Minato was in conflict. He didn't let it show, however, but he could tell that something was happening—with both the help of Naruko's past and his Kage intuition—and he knew how devastating it would be.

War was coming.

Many couldn't see it coming, but those who were high enough in rank knew it was just around the corner. Suna was becoming shady with their industry; selling them low-quality weapons and, according to their spies, mass producing quality weaponry and selling it to Iwa and Kumo.

Konohagakure, from the beginning of time had a rivalry hidden under treaties and strained smiles with Iwa and Kumo. Minato could tell that it would have only been a matter of time before Iwa and Kumo's greed exceeded the boundaries.

Minato glanced out of the Hokage tower window. Slowly walking towards the wide glass windows that reflected everyday life in Konoha, a peaceful tranquillity set over him and a fond smile crossed his face. Easily spotting his daughter zooming through the crowd, his soft smile faded.

_Naruko_, he thought sadly. _In not only her past life but this life too she's gone through too much_.

With a wave of his hands, he summoned his ANBU. "Please call in all the current Jounin's. It's time for the Genin selection."

He wouldn't sit idily around and allow everything he worked for, everything Naruko worked for too, to go down the drain because he couldn't get himself and Konoha together.

Itachi, Naruko, Kushina… They had given up so much for Konoha and received nothing in return.

He would change that in any way he could.

**.**

Their classmates gaped in open amazement at the duo walking straight passed them. Like the duo possessed the plague, everyone around them had formed to lines on each side of the playground, allowing them to walking in a straight line.

Naruko and Kakashi, the class' prodigies were idly talking to each other in quiet voice. There were no sparks of one-sided hate that shot from Kakashi's eyes. They were still more or less blank but they still held an unusual emotion coming from his eyes. Respect.

Even with his mask on, the class could make out a faint smile on his face.

Just as the class doors had closed, their eyes not wondering back to the line even once, the two line-filled people slowly merged back into one, their voices hushed and nervous.

"The end of the world?" One supplied to his speechless friend.

"The end of the world." His friend clarified.

Rin's eyes narrowed.

**.**

It wasn't fair, Rin mumbled to herself. She always made herself look presentable, with combed back hair and a beautiful smile on her face.

She was nice to everyone and every boy in their year liked her. Most girls, except Naruko and the Nara girl, envied her for her beauty.

When she walked through the school's halls, everyone shot her smiles and looks of awe and adoration. She was skilled and was the top Kunoichi in their class. Until Naruko came.

When Naruko came, no longer did boys even glance her way. Except for Obito but she didn't like him that way, he was a friend but nothing more. She hated Naruko. Naruko stole everything from her in a second. Did Naruko even know what it felt like having a mother who, despite being practically bed-ridden with disease, tried to fight through her sickness but fail? She knew nothing of sadness and loss, did she? Naruko was a bumbling idiot who knew nothing about pain.

All respect held for Rin from even the teachers was miniscule compared to their feelings towards Naruko, Girls no longer envied her but envied Naru—

_Slap_

Rin slapped her cheeks, eyes downcast with shame and cheeks both burning and stinging with pain and shame as she hurried into the girl's bathroom. Locking herself in a cubicle, she looked at her red hands; hands that had been clutching her kunai hard enough to draw blood.

She couldn't believe her train of thoughts. She was ashamed to call herself a Nohara; a clan that had been renowned for their purity and their immunity to the deadly sins. Her mother wouldn't be proud in her and her father's eyes would be wiped of their proudness.

Rin flushed the toilet, pretending that she even went as there were girls in the other cubicles and she splashed her face with water, placing a small smile on her face.

She would make her parent's proud and would never ever hold resentment in her heart.

She would start by befriending Naruko and getting over her crush.

_She didn't know how hard that would be though._

**.**

"Ne, Kakashi?" Naruko said as they walked up the small carpeted stairs to their seats at the back.

Naruko was wearing a plain light purple t-shirt with a dark orange and black jumpsuit top over it and dark blue skirt above knee-length leggings. She, of course, wore ninja footing although they were the sandals but light but sturdy combat boots. Kakashi wore his usual clothing, as he had several pairs of it.

"Yes?" Kakashi replied hesitantly. It had been a while since he had said more than Hn to anyone but his father.

"Aren't you curious about what team we'll be on? What if we aren't on the same team?" A panicked look flashed across Naruko's eyes though she herself didn't know why her eyes weren't the childish panicked she thought they would be. Thankfully, Kakashi wasn't looking at her.

"…Yes." Kakashi said slowly. He was curious and wouldn't lie about it but still even though Naruko was his…. Friend(?) it didn't mean that he wanted Naruko to know everything about him.

"I hope we get put on the same team!" Naruko started to whisper as Jin-sensei came in. She, underneath the table, pretended to take out her books for class and instead grabbed Kakashi's pinky finger quickly before proceeding to actually get her textbooks.

Kakashi didn't know why his heart sped up.

**.**

The Jounin's were all gathered in the Yondaime's office, Hiruzen sat to his left. The Jounin's present bowed to both of them before straightening. Sakumo cleared his throat quietly.

"Hokage-sama, why were we summoned?" Sakumo knew that they were here for team placings but he wondered why Sakumo was called because Sakumo was vital to the war that was around the corner and couldn't be placed with Genin right now.

"Sakumo-san, while we know that you will not be taking on any Genin teams, the other Jounin's will." At this, the Jounin's looked at Sakumo, most of them thinking that it was because he refused to. Most of the Jounin's there were Tokubetsu Jounins (Special Jounins) so they knew not of the war and wouldn't know for two more weeks where there would be a Ninja summoning for the first time since the First war.

"Yes. Let's start with Kushina." Here was not Minato who would fondly call Kushina Kushina-chan or Kushi-chan but the Yondaime who spoke to her as a Jounin and not his girlfriend of one year.

"You will be placed with…"

**.**

**ONE DAY EARLIER**

**.**

"Now," Jin-sensei said loudly as the last person sat down from the break that just finished. "You may be wondering why I have placed your textbooks here—" he pointed at his desks, "—and not left them on your tables."

"This is because it is the Genin exams today." There were no yells of outrage because they all knew this. He told them two weeks ago.

"Normally," Jin-sensei said a bit quietly because everyone was deathly silent and he didn't need his outdoor voice. "We would do this in alphabetical order starting from A surnames to Z surnames, but this term we are doing it in rank of points accumulated throughout the year because this will give you a chance to measure how many additional Jutsu's it would be wise to show and would allow the lower-ranked ones a chance to work harder than they thought they would need to."

Everyone shot a subtle glance at the Nara girl except for Kakashi, Rin, Obito and Naruko. Kakashi because he didn't care, Rin because she needed to focus on passing and was memorising what she learnt so far, Obito because he was reading his manga next to Rin and Naruko because she was speaking to Kurami

"So Kakashi Hatake and Naruko Uzumaki in joint places please make your way to room 1-A for Kakashi and room 1-B for Naruko."

_**You can do it, kit, you've completed much harder **_said Kurami. Though her physical fox form was hunting she could make a connection in her mind still though her mindscape didn't house the fox anymore.

_I really hope so. Kakashi-sensei from _our _timeline said his exams were harder than ours and I barely passed in my timeline—_

_**Because you aimed for dead-last, kit**_

_Oh yeah…_ Kurami could imagine Naruko sheepishly scratching her neck

_**Idiot **_Kurami said fondly

_**When you are finish and are waiting for the rest of the class go to your mindscape **_Kurami commanded sternly yet affectionately before cutting the connection.

At this point, she and Kakashi were standing side by side, each of them looking both at eachother and at their respective doors.

"See you later," Naruko greeted, waving her hands as she made quick work of picking the door with a pin in her hair. The first trial.

"You too," Kakashi used his Shunshin instead.

"Show off," Naruko said with a small smile

**.**

"Hello, Naruko-san," Umino Kino, her examiner said. To her though, she could vaguely remember someone called Umino in her timeline… Umino I-something…

"Naruko-san?" He repeated.

"H-hai." She replied, being brought from her thoughts.

"No need to be nervous," He said, shooting her a soft smile.

Naruko wasn't nervous, she was scared. She was scared because she couldn't remember the Umino that she would have known in her old lifer. She shook her head to clear her thoughts thoughts, she would find out one day; a day when she had to look through her memories again.

"Please make three Bunshins and have the first one do the Kawirimi, the second do a henge of a person not in this room and the last one do a ninjutsu from your clan." Kino knew she was the sister of Kushina Uzumaki and was under her and Namikaze Minato's care so she was bound to have learnt something.

Naruko sighed at how easy it was. Careful to not overload her only slightly-tame chakra as she had lost most of the control over it when she went back in time, she crossed her fingers in the sign for the Bunshin and said it out loud all though when she learn a jutsu she practiced with it until she could do it without signs. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" She said.

Three Bunshins in the non-pasty form that she did in her future exam popped out of nowhere and nodded at Naruko before they each crossed their fingers in different positions.

"Kawirimi" the first one chanted before switching places with the log settled in the corner of the chair before doing it once more and swapped places with a chair next to Kino. It looked at Naruto and shimmered out of existence.

"Henge no Jutsu!" The second shouted, as the image of the blonde bunshin blended into someone else.

The short, slightly scrawny girl's imagine grew until it was no longer vertically challenged. Eyes blended from cerulean to dark yet vivid purple eyes that snatched the attention of everyone present—even the hidden Jounin's of the room—and changed from the wide blue they used to be into narrowed and wise rinnegan-weilding eyes. The spiky blonde-hair remained spiky but the spikiness spoke not of genes but of an aura that defied gravity. From the shifting form horns that curled inwards grew, framing the short bangs that covered the forehead. Sun-kissed skin blended into a tired almost elasticated-like skin but even in the old image in represented it still managed to look powerful and wise. No longer were the three marks adorning her cheeks there but instead lines that spoke of age, wisdom and power. A long white beard angled downwards perfectly grew in less than a split second and eyes snapped upwards as in the middle of the forehead grew a red sharingan eye, drawing the breath from the Umino. A cloak donned the clone's body, comma like symbols from the sharingan dotted along the collar of the cloak and also on the shown collarbone of the person. In what seemed like years but was a second black orbs appeared underneath the person's body allowing them to hover and as the last touch a black staff appeared in the clone's right hand; the tip being curved into a crescent shape and the end being circular with black rings adorning it. The henge was finally finished and though it only took a second at most, it was years to the Jounin there.

While the Umino was impressed at the fact that Naruko didn't choose someone like Kakashi, her friend and also the love interest of many girls, or even her brother Minato who was popular the Jounin there were astounded for another reason. The books even nowadays had old sketches of Hagaromo that didn't even include the staff because there was such little information about him but this girl seemed like she knew everything about him; as if she had met him in person and thus knew his appearance.

The Jounin then flared his chakra enough for the Chuunin to notice, although he was still caught up in the appearance of Naruko, before he leaped out the window and headed towards the Hokage.

"G-Great," Kino stuttered but inwardly his mind was running ten miles a second.

_How was her henge so stable that it didn't even waver?! She's an academy student with a better henge than I!_

"Now do you have a jutsu that you can do besides these three?" Kino questioned, curious to see her skills.

"Yeah, I'll show you one —ttebane!"

Naruko closed her eyes for a second and with a pulse of chakra that was low enough for it to not be seen too much, she then placed her two index together while clasping the rest down to make the Tora (tiger) hand seal. "Shunshin!" Although it looked like teleportation it was actually the user moving at a untraceable speed (unless you were skilled enough to see the movement). Deciding she didn't want to show off much, she just shunshined to the door.

"This is enough, right?" She questioned and flabbergasted Kino just nodded.

"Yatta!" Naruko yelled as she bounded out the room not before yelling a thanks and slamming the door.

Almost too quietly, Kino yelled "Please get Nohara Rin for me!"

**.**

When Naruko came into the classroom, Jin was talking to them about the importance of teamwork and friendship. Inwardly, Naruko understood where he was coming from no matter how bored he sounded—teamwork was one of the reasons why Konoha was the strongest of the five because they never gave up on each other and always trusted each other.

Still, couldn't have Jin-sensei made it sound less boring?

Bounding up the stairs (A/N: you can imagine this either as an actual stairs or as the platforms in the canon Academy) Naruko passed Rin on the way, quickly backpedalling to speak to her. "Rin-chan?" Naruko said rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

Rin's head snapped to her, a small smile coming to her face very quickly. _Too_ quickly, Naruko noticed before deciding she would leave it for later.

"Hai?" Said Rin quietly. She wasn't ready for this she told herself.

"Umino-sensei wants you in room 1-B."

"Hai." With that Rin scuttled out of class, bowing in front of Jin-sensei quickly.

"Huh… weird…" Naruko said, scratching her head before shrugging her shoulders.

_**Kit… Rinnegan training,**_

_Why?!_

_**Because you may need to use the Rinnegan during the future so it is best to start practising now. **_Kurami reasoned.

_Hai._

Naruko reached her and Kakashi's table silently. Kakashi wasn't back so she didn't have to explain anything.

Naruko's head slumped as she drifted from listening to Jin to listening to Kurami.

_The Rinnegan, huh? _She thought to herself _I wonder how alike it is to the Sharingan. Does the pain and suffering of the Sharingan come with the Rinnegan too?_

* * *

**Team sorting is the next chapter.**

**Thanks for all the feedback, please give me your feedback if you haven't already and If you have well... give me some more.**


	10. Chapter 10 - Nightmares

**Chapter 10: Kushina… SENSEI?! **

**I mentioned in chapter two that Konoha was destroyed when she was 14, I wanted to change that to eighteen but I had lost the document. **

***IMPORTANT NOTE* I do know that I rarely update as it is, about once every two weeks with a short-medium chapter, although I hope in the near future that it will be more often, but I'm running low on the drive that pushed me to do a Kakashi/Naruko. I've been getting more into HP fanfictions so that's one reason but another reason why is because for the longest time I shipped Naruto and Sasuke and I still do and I love the dynamics of Naruto and Sasuke and at this point I half regret doing a Kn story so I may not seem as excited for updating and updated may be pushed even longer. Maybe once the relationship starts (it will probably kick off in the next couple of chapters) I will be more motivated but for now, the quality may have gone down. I apologise for that. **

_Previously:_

_**.**_

_**ONE DAY EARLIER**_

_**.**_

_The Jounin's were all gathered in the Yondaime's office, Hiruzen sat to his left. The Jounin's present bowed to both of them before straightening. Sakumo cleared his throat quietly._

"_Hokage-sama, why were we summoned?" Sakumo knew that they were here for team placings but he wondered why Sakumo was called because Sakumo was vital to the war that was around the corner and couldn't be placed with Genin right now._

"_Sakumo-san, while we know that you will not be taking on any Genin teams, the other Jounin's will." At this, the Jounin's looked at Sakumo, most of them thinking that it was because he refused to. Most of the Jounin's there were Tokubetsu Jounins (Special Jounins) so they knew not of the war and wouldn't know for two more weeks where there would be a Ninja summoning for the first time since the First war._

After every Jounin had left, some angry and disappointed with who they got—seeing as half the class were fangirls or fanboys—while other's eyes were shining with glee. Kushina was the latter.

When everyone was leaving, she was about to stop and talk to Minato for a bit but seeing the stone-hard expression on his face and how, seeing as she was a pretty good sensor, Sakumo's emotions were nervous yet knowing and foreboding she decided to leave it there.

Kushina knew of the nightmares and conflict shinobi's had to deal with. When she was in the Uzumaki clan—no, when they were still alive besides her daughter they had to deal with it to and she knew of what some princesses had to do.

She knew, as she was one herself, that being a princess of a highly sought clan wasn't fun and games; hell, it rarely ever was. She, before she was even 10, had to deny a little boy no older than four who's parents had been taken away from him even though his parents were bandits.

She remembered watching her guards kill him because he threatened to kill her. So she knew, no matter how much she and Minato loved each other that there would be times when they would keep things from each other. He was her lover first but in a position where numbers couldn't even count the importance, he was the Yondaime watching over his people and his family.

So, for once, the Uzumaki princess left things be. Even for Kushina, there would be a time when she would have to give up. It wasn't her nindo but in the world of shinobi's survival came first and honesty and pride came second.

**.**

"Hokage-sama…" Sakumo trailed off, dropping to one knee with his head bowed.

"No need for that, Sakumo-san. You do know why I have summoned you, right?" Minato, with a flourish of his hands got Sakumo to stand while he quickly sealed the door shut with a silencing and locking seal.

"No, Hokage-sama, the ANBU only told me that I would be gone for a month at most." Sakumo said curtly, dipping his head once again.

"Yes, but I believe with your skill you should get it done in a week or two." Minato replied, equally as curt seeing as this wasn't a small mission getting rid of rouge-nin; no, this was a step towards war. "As you know, war is coming. It's unavoidable since Iwa and Kumo, maybe even Suna, have overstepped their boundaries. If they want a fight, a fight we shall give them."

"I need you to gather intel on Iwa." Minato said, pacing the room slowly before sitting in the Hokage seat and scribbling down something.

"You will go undercover to Iwa for three days, acting as a simple merchant on your way. You will sell simple things such as dreamless sleep tablets and burn ointment, whatever this—" Minato said handing him some ryo, "—can buy. During this time, I want you to gather intel on the way the village is behaving and even go to some pubs, striking conversations and pretending to be drunk so the other drunk one can answer your questions. Remember do not be seen. _Be nothing but a shadow of the night_." Minato commanded, blue eyes burning with determination.

"Don't fail us. Be here in three hours. You will travel as fast as you can until you are three miles from the border, at least, before you can rent out a carriage from Tonami and ride there. Claim to be a well-off merchant who wants to make more money. You will come of as greedy for money, the opposite of most of our merchants in Konoha. Go to Naruko for help with your henge…"

"Hokage-sama," Sakumo said, "permission to speak?"

"Permission granted."

"Why must I go to Naruko-san for a henge?"

"Because…" Minato's mind decided between telling him, his closest friend and most trusted ninja, about Naruko from the future and her Rinnegan but decided not to. "Naruko has exceptional henge skills and can make some, with a blood sample though, that bypass the Hyuuga's byakugan. It can even change chakra system appearance if you give her certain things."

"Hai," Sakumo decided to say nothing else and shunshined out.

Minato sighed, tired eyes casting a look on the village below. Konoha would be at a disadvantage already if Sakumo failed.

_I hope you don't _Minato thought, remembering what Naruko said about Sakumo though this was the first of the two missions that made Sakumo give up.

_Flashback_

"_Ano…" Naruko said, trailing off. "Kakashi-sensei never said much about Sakumo-san; hell, he didn't even tell us he was his dad! I knew though because of the Bingo book. Sakumo-san had a flee on sight when Kakashi was five._

_That was weird. Kakashi was eight and even then Sakumo didn't have one. Though he was close._

"_So," Minato said chuckling, "Was Sakumo still as lively as when Kakashi was a child?"_

_Him and Hiruzen laughed._

_Naruko's face twisted into one of pain. "That's the thing… Sakumo commited seppeku when Kakashi was six."  
Him and Hiruzen shared disturbed looks._

"_Why?" Hiruzen spoke up, confused. "He was the village's shining star besides Minato."_

"_That's the thing. Sakumo failed a mission that was vital to Konoha winning the second shinobi world war and he was ridden with guilt because he chose his comrades over his mission and even the ones he saved hated him for it." Naruko said, looking through the glass at the bustling village._

"_Konoha… The genius' never stay after all…" she whispered to herself quietly_

_End Flashback_

**.**

"For our last day…" Jin-sensei said.

Naruko, our loveable protagonist, was paying _so _much attention with her eyes shut, head cushioned by her arms and semi-unconscious to the world.

_Mindscape_

In the forest surrounding them, Naruko panted heavily as she tied her hair into a ponytail before securing it with ninja wire. Sweat trickled down her forehead and her clothes were mentally-ripped and torn with the force of the chakra output. Kurami, in her human form, barked out orders as Naruko attempted **Banshou Ten'in **for the twentieth time. Though Naruko had a grasp on it and could do a small version of it, Kurami was a perfectionist and wanted to see Naruko doing it without so much chakra and effort.

"**Banshō Ten'in**(Universal Pull) !" Naruko yelled as the air around the dummy rippled inwards and in delayed seconds, the dummy was pulled off its post and flew towards Naruto with a kunai stuck in it's head, aiming for her heart. Leaping into the air, Naruko twisted her body and swung her legs out, almost stumbling but still managing to kick it away through the forest.

_**What was that? **_Kurami said, grounding her teeth as a tick mark appeared on her forehead, veins bulging with anger.

Naruko cringed. "What?!" What did Kurami mean? She did it fine, right?

_**Your taijutsu is lacking. You keep thinking your limbs are longer and have more power, right?**_

Naruko cringed yet again. Kurami kept hitting the nail dead on. She sighed.

"It's hard… but true."

_**Your sensei will notice you in five seconds. Make sure you practice it.**_

With that the world warped and Naruko lifted her head and wiped her drool, pretending she was listening.

The guy wasn't Chuunin for nothing though. "Where did Hashirama and Madara fight?"

The class gasped. Most people didn't know the answer but Naruko wasn't like most people.

Naruko nearly cringed. That's where she and teme… she and teme…. Fought! She and teme fought there!

"The Valley of the End."

"Correct! Now…" Jin knew she would be right. She was one of his top students after all, falling behind Kakashi by a smidge.

"That was our final question of the day; to see if you guys were taking the iniative with learning and studying but judging from your reactions most have you haven't."

A couple looked down, their childish selves quelled for a moment as they felt some shame.

"We'll now start team sorting," Jin said absentmindedly, eyes roaming over the text on two sheets of paper.

"Team one," At that the class perked up, eager to see who passed and who failed; a couple even crossed their fingers and at that moment Obito looked nervous; he hadn't done that well in his test especially the writing portion.

"Team one will consist of Aruha Mizuki, Kaori Enya and Mia Saizo; your sensei will be Kotaro Ika." Jin said as he crossed out the names on the second sheet of the list. If you name was crossed out on the register it meant you had passed the test and if it wasn't you didn't pass.

"Team 2 with consist of…."

Naruko tried to fight dozing of but she couldn't help it… It was boring! She's rather have Kurami make her join Gai who was in class 1-C than go through this.

_**I'll remember that **_Kurami chuckled, eyes glinting with sadistic pleasure

_Urggh_ Naruko cursed her luck.

"Kakashi Hatake—" At this both Kakashi and Naruko perked up, both interested on similar levels.

Kakashi because he was one step closer to being the Jounin that his father was. Naruko because she was curious to see if Tou-san would put her on his team.

Though it wasn't just the duo who were interested; no, the whole class was for different reasons. Jin was interested, unusually so. He usually was a bit interested to see who the class he had taught for at least a term would be but this year he was even more curious because they had two genius' who could surpass their loved ones. Obito wasn't interested much though he was curious to know how strong the two were; due to him being the kind-hearted genin-to-be he was always helping out elders and youngsters and often was late and missed the Taijutsu part which was first thing in the morning. Rin tried not to be very interested above the level of being classmates who wanted to wish them well but she couldn't fully quell the part of her that _knew _Kakashi and Naruko would be on the same team.

Rin wanted to rip her hair out and yell to the skies; she, instead settled for biting her lips.

"Kakashi Hatake, Uzumaki Naruko—" at this, Naruko nearly shot up from her relaxed position of folding her hands beneath her chin. It reminded her of Sas—the teme. "—Rin Nohara and Obito Uchiha!"

The class shot out of their seats, eyes widened with shock. Why where there four students instead of three?!

"Class, settle." The class grumbled but eventually quietened and Jin-sensei cleared his throat. "Due to an… accident involving two students of the previous years Genin team the sensei needs two more students so the wisest choice was to pick two students from the only graduating class; this class. So the two who are moving on to a seasoned genin team—" at this a couple blanched, the seasoned genin's would probably hate them since they were beginners, "—is that all? May I move on now?"

**.**

Rin couldn't be happier. Although she was trying to get over her silly crush which bordered on obsession, she was still over the moon that she could spend some time with him and maybe love him for him and not his status.

Though having Naruko wouldn't help at all.

Though she still didn't like Naruko, she had to acknowledge her. Naruko was smarter, stronger, and prettier and belonged to two influential clans while Rin's clan itself wasn't even on the ninja council seat.

For now, the only person she could rely on was Obito. He, at least, was in the group. If things went her way, maybe Obito would develop a crush on Naruko instead.

She instantly felt guilty. She was willing to destroy the relationship she and Obito had for three years just because she had no chances with Kakashi? Over a boy who wasn't even interested in Naruko?

Maybe it was time for her to speak to her Mother about it; her Mother always seemed to know everything after all.

**.**

Obito couldn't be happier. He finally had a chance to prove to _everyone _that he wasn't the crybaby he used to be and that he would live up to the legacy—no he would surpass the legacy of the Uchiha. Walking past any Uchiha and seeing the disgust they held for him—no not him, his skills made him want to cry. They looked at him as if he couldn't defeat Itachi, his three month old neice. They practically worshiped the baby and we wasn't even one. They spoke about how strong Itachi would be in only a couple of years. And, even to his face, about how Obito couldn't compare to Itachi-san.

He nearly hung his head whenever he walked through the Uchiha markets. He didn't know why they hated him; the rest of Konoha actually liked him and saw him as Obito and not the Uchiha who couldn't even preform the Uchiha clan's famous Gōkakyū no Jutsu they prided themselves in.

Obito wondered what it felt like to be loved like Naruko; who was the new shining star of Konoha. Or even Kakashi who, though losing his mother, was looked up to already and was expected to be great. Or even Rin who belonged to a small clan so didn't have many expectations besides being pure and kind-hearted and she was beautiful and well-liked. She was told she would be a great medic-nin though Rin had told him she wanted to be someone stronger than a simple medic-nin.

Obito didn't like hearing Rin talk like that. Like medic-nin's were nothing. Obito remembered when his training went wrong, if it wasn't for Uchiha Mikoto who wasn't like the other Uchiha's and a couple of medic nin's he would have been dead.

To bring himself out of those thoughts, he pulled his goggles and allowed them to snap back onto his forehead with a dull sting.

Obito first had to worry about not being a weak link on team 7.

**.**

Kakashi's mood dropped a bit. Not only was he with Obito who was detestably weak and was late but also he was a crybaby at heart and loud. Obito had a crush on Rin and it was painfully obvious that Rin knew. His mood dropped more when he realized that Rin, his biggest fangirl in the school, was teamed up with him and he would have to work with her for atleast eight months because the Chūnin exams had passed four months ago.

They would only hinder him in the long run and he wasn't going to risk a mission for those who didn't take the shinobi life seriously. He did notice that he wasn't as strict on the rules as a couple months ago but he guessed he would be now that he was a Genin—at least he would be when he passed his sensei's test. At this point, he secured the hitai-ate that was secured tightly on his forehead.

He didn't mind that Naruko was on his team. Naruko had proved that she was strong and could handle herself; the dummy's near her clan house proved so as when he stayed over for the day they were training. She pushed herself to the extreme and never gave up—though he didn't know if this was good or bad—and had two powerful siblings who could help him if he ever asked – that was what Kushina-san said at least. She was nice too and his father liked her so he guessed she wasn't so bad. At that moment he put the puzzle pieces together; she was nice, opened him up a bit and was strong. She made him happier when she smiled at him to… He realized that Naruko was his friend. His only friend.

His best friend.

**.**

Naruko was neutral. Although she smiled brightly and wished Rin and Obito—who sat in front of them—good luck and best wishes with a cheeky smile and grinned at Kakashi who groaned silently, she was neutral on the scale of emotions. She might have even leant towards foreboding.

She noticed the way Rin looked at her sometimes. The look some of the villagers in her timeline had in their eyes. The cloudy yet sharp look that held resentment yet in Rin's eyes it wasn't resentment but jealously. She also noticed how Rin tried to stop it, flashing smiles at Naruko. Naruko knew Rin was trying to not hate or dislike Naruko.

Even so, Naruko couldn't blame her. She had her fair share of disliking someone for irrational things. She couldn't even count how many times she wanted them to pay for her suffering but had to swallow it down and flash a smile. Though even her tou-san said, in her past timeline, that it was fine to hate and dislike the villagers she couldn't go through with it.

She knew that in this timeline while she had a happy past it wasn't the same as her timeline for the others. Kakashi's father was still alive or at least alive longer in this timeline. War wasn't even here yet although she and tou-san expected it in two years. Obito's parents, in this timeline, were dead; her mother from childbirth and her dad from assassination in a mission. Rin's clan, too, wasn't known for their mastery in their clan's kenjutsu but for being pure and kind—a trait that wanted to skip Rin it seemed. Even her kaa-san was different. Kushina had this time escaped with her siblings but was left alone when they were murdered in her sleep; where she unlocked her chakra chains in fury.

Although things were different, she still knew that the happiness wouldn't last for long. The sense of foreboding crawled up her like an ant.

Kakashi, at least, made her smile. When he smiled a bit, even when he smirked, beneath that mask of his she felt like a weight was lifted of her shoulders. He made her forget about her burdens and her past life. Kakashi was her best friend; not her rival and brother (if the circumstances were different) like Sasuke.

At least she had some people in this life; Kakashi, her parents and Kurami. Depsite how small she was grateful.

She was knocked out of her thoughts when Jin, who was no longer Jin-sensei or sensei, informed the class that the day had ended and that the students who passed, all of them this year, should come to the same room tomorrow at normal time.

Naruko grinned; she couldn't wait! Now… to find tou-san and kaa-san; the former at the Hokage tower and the latter most likely slurping up ramen at Ichiraku which had been around before her time, apparently.

**.**

"Night Kaa-san! Tou-san!" Naruko yelled, just as she finished washing her face with this new facial wash. Facial wash was a pretty new thing to Konoha-hell, until a couple months ago, it was new to all the "Big Five"!. It smelt like heaven in a bottle and it couldn't be duplicated as the main ingredient was a flower that belonged only to Nadeshikogakure and Yukigakure but Yuki, as they were in a partnership with Nadeshiko, refused to sell any other village the flower. It was organic and worked like a charm. It was the best selling items in all shops, but the thing was that it was only sold in the couple of women-only shops in Konoha and the shop clerks were strict ex-kunoichi's who ranged from high Chunin to ex-ANBU. It didn't look as if the facial wash would land in the hands of males anytime soon.

A village called Nadeshikogakure* had invented the facial wash. Although there were men who liked to invest in skincare it was women only and was targeted towards helping women; apparently it had no effect on men. People summed this up to the fact that Nadeshikogakure was a female-only village because their founder, Kimiko Mayu (meaning Child without equal and gentle truth) an A-classed ex-Yukigakure kunoichi had a bad history with them although what made her so alluring was her mystery. She spoke with a gentle voice and had a kind heart to all females and accepted all, regardless of their history as along as they would work in comradeship with everyone in the village but when she laid veiled-eyes, as her face was constantly hidden behind a bridal veil, on men her eyes harden and her rumoured dark purple eyes dulled. To Naruko, she was a beautiful woman from the new books published about the little information they knew about her. She was skilled and Naruko wanted to grow up to be as beautiful as her; during the timeline she was in she never had enough time to invest in things like skincare.

As she patted her face and hair dry, she left the bathroom and only stopped when she reached her room. Kurami would dry it for her.

_Tick Tock Tick Tock_

The clock slowly ticked past. The noise from downstairs ceased with a close door and the house was quiet. Naruko curled up into a ball on her side and using the Mp3 player she recently got, she tried to play some relaxing music; to no avail. Soon, too soon for Naruko, Kushina mumbled a good night through the door and she went to bed (Minato already asleep). Naruko closed her eyes and wished herself to sleep. In no time, but years for Naruko, the clock struck midnight and Naruko sighed. Shakily she prodded Kurami from on the floor to see if she was awake but unsurprisingly, she was sleeping. Naruko had assured her the nightmares had gone after all.

She couldn't continue on with the nightmeres and the haunting shadows of her friends. In her dreams they haunted her, doing things from ridiculing her to hating her for being the Kyuubi and not saving them and even from Sakura (a woman who has grown to be like a sister to her) saying that she was nothing more than a cheap kunoichi dead-last who had tried to worm her way into Sasuke's heart. Normally, during the day or around anyone, she would have scoffed at the prospect of anyone loving her _that _way but in the night-no, in her dreams, she would only nod and agree with Sakura to get her to leave. They only left when she admitted defeat. Finally, after an eternity, her insomnia gave up for a second and that one second was all her brain needed before she fell into a deep slumber.

_Dream _

_"Oh look who it is!" A dark, deep voice invaded the small moment of peace she had. Naruko was dressed in her other timeline's black and orange jumpsuit and her hair was the short length it was before, when her only concern was saving the world and not keeping it long like her mothers. _

_Naruko whirled around to see who it was, and could only gasp as a sharp staff was driven through her body. She gargled, her mouth filling up with that familiar metallic taste. Ignoring the intense burn, she glanced up and could only gasp at who it was. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime of Konoha, renowned as the God of Shinobi and more importantly, her beloved Jiji. _

_"Your a failure!" Hiruzen spat at her, repeatedly landing blows on her face and stomach, which had healed in the nightmere, and Naruko could do nothing but be knocked around. She had no chakra in this world, all her knowledge besides being able to comprehend words and basic maths, she could do nothing about it. Hanging her head low when he had kicked her in the side he spat in her face._

_"Your - Kakashi is next!" Hiruzen yelled, kicking her one last time before crossing his hands in some signs. "How about I bring him here and let him see his - - be killed!" For some reason, certain words were blanked out but she didn't have time to figure it out as an intense fury and determination lit flames in her eyes._

_"No!" She snarled, "I won't let you!" With a blur of speed, enhanced with chakra that had suddenly come to her, she leapt at him before kicking at him, her foot inched from his face. _

_"Ha!" Hiruzen grinned. "You-"_

_A wave of chakra pushed him back, the sheer force of her kick conjuring wind too._

_"I'll never let you kill him! Because I-"_

Naruko shot up with a silent scream, eyes wide open from shock and her whole body trembling.

Kushina's footsteps were then heard as she knocked on the door. "Naru-chan? Musume (daughter)?"

Naruko tucked herself back into bed, forcing her facial features to take on the features of someone who was about to be sick.

It wasn't hard to do.

Kushina opened the door when she heard a strangled 'yes' and her red thin eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?" Kushina said, as she closed the door behind her. It was only four a.m, why was Naruko up when school started at nine?

"N-No. I think I've got a fever..." Naruko stuttered, trying to turn the tone from someone scared to death and surprised to confused and sickly.

"Yeah, you have been looking pale recently. Maybe it built up." Kushina hummed, pressing her cool but not cold forehead onto Naruko's. "Yeah it's really high. Stay at home today."

For some reason, the prospect of not going school made her upset, which was confusing since she found school boring and annoying. Kushina turned to the door and started walking, "I'll make you some of my mother's famous chicken soup!"

Naruko smiled, tiredly. She felt a lot older than eighteen/nine at this point.

**.**

**TOMORROW**

**.**

"So Kiddo, how's your day been?" Kushina said, waving the girl over as the blonde's head poked through the red curtains that gave the ramen eaters some privacy. "You seem pale!"

"Really?" Naruko mumbled, taking a seat besides her mother, her head slumped slightly. "Yeah, today hasn't been the best…"

"So you failed?" Kushina hummed, although she knew Naruko passed she didn't want her daughter to know that she would be her mother's student. "It's alright, people fail all the time! Like once I failed my writing test and Minato offered me help but I told him I'd do it without him because I wasn't some pansy who needed his help like the rest of the class –ttebane!"

Naruko, despite her slightly sad feelings from Rin's negativity and her fading memories, smiled. "I can imagine it –ttebane. Uzumaki's rule! But no, I didn't fail my test. I passed as best Kunoichi but I wanted to ask you something…"

Kushina grew serious, dropping her voice until it was less than a whisper. "Anything to do with the… future?"

Naruko nodded. "Kind of. I sense that something bad is going to happen, regardless of what I do. It'll have something to do with the future, I bet but I'm not sure…"

Kushina ruffled Naruko's hair, raising her voice again. "It's okay! We never know what the future may hold. Just hold on and be patient. Patience was never an Uzumaki thing though."

Naruko grinned. "Yep!"

All would be okay, she just had to hold on!

.

That night as Naruko curled up in bed clutching a frog plushie Minato had bought her, she heard Kurami speak for the first time in a while.

_**Kit, are you okay. Don't lie to me.**_

_If I was going to lie to you I would say I'm fine but I'm really not. The memories are too strong to hide and they haunt me sometime, taunting me for being weak. I couldn't save Sasuke, how could I dream of savin—_

_**This isn't the Naruko I know. The Naruko I've known for over a decade wouldn't just give up like that. She'd persevere and fighting with all she's got. **_

Naruko felt guilty at that moment for worrying Kurami. _Sorry It's just that I've been feeling a bit down lately. _

_**Kit… **_

_Yes? _Naruko was curious now. Kurami had only spoken in that tone once; just after she had met her parents and made her bond with Kurami.

_**I can make the memories go away. Not permanently and they will be unleashed in times of extreme sadness and conflict. **_

_I'll do it!_

_**Close your eyes and come.**_

**.**

Not even seconds after, Naruko felt bouts of extreme pain in her skull; it felt like her skull was being torn apart. Now she was glad Kurami made her come to her mindscape. If she had done it while conscious she probably would have alerted everyone in Konoha with how loud her screams were. Kurami clutched her human-like ears and hoped for the best.

The second the pain was there it was gone though it felt like years to Naruko. From the position where she was floating in the air with her hair sprawled out by her side she slowly descended before her feet were planted on the floor shakily.

"They're gone…" Naruko said in awe, eyes wide with happiness. She could still remember things of the past but they were only happy things so far. She could remember the first gift she ever got; her gama purse from Jiraiya. She remembered when she, Sakura and Sasuke had tried to figure out what was behind Kakashi-sensei's mask; she had betted a mole, Sasuke buck teeth and Sakura extremely plump lips. It turned out that she was right, all those years later. She could remember the time when she and Kurami bumped fists. When she and her friends (excluding Sasuke) had celebrated her birthday. The day Tsunade said she was engaged to Jiraiya. The day she proved Tsunade wrong about her beleifs on Konoha.

"**It's good to see you back." **Kurami stated, smiling as she looked at her non-blood kit. Naruko had been acting up lately, she had been depressed and wouldn't smile and it made Kurami sad to know that she couldn't console her as a cat could only do so much.

"It's good to be back." Naruko said, eyes lighting up and a small smile coming to her face. She couldn't even believe that once she used to hate the kitsune in front of her.

_It's good to be back_.

**.**

**NEXT DAY**

**.**

"Mornin'!" Naruko said, albeit tiredly, as she rubbed her eyes. Dodging past her mother who was quickly pulling on her ninja gear, she grabbed her hair brush which she had conveniently left there the night before. She brushed her hair softly smiling as she realized it now was mid-back length. One day, she wanted her hair as long as her mother or just a bit shorter. Maybe knee-length. Suddenly, she felt arms wrap behind her and she recognized them as her mother's.

"Someone's happy today!" Kushina stated though inwardly she was cheering. Naruko lately had been quite depressed and they had chalked it up to nightmares of the future but she was glad now that everything was back to normal. "Let me brush your hair for you; it's pretty long –ttebane!"

Naruko grinned. "Nothing compared to yours!"

Kushina scratched her cheek. "I've been growing this since I was six, it should be –ttebane!" The girls burst out in laughter and it only grew as a tired 'huh?' resounded through the hallways.

There Minato stood, with the worst case of bed hair in history. Every lock that was normally in pristine condition and looked like it came out of a salon everyday was dishevelled beyond compare and although spiky still they stuck out in wild direction. The two Uzumaki's were glad the purple rings under his eyes were gone, from a helpful tip of Kage Bunshin from Naruko. His pyjamas were rumpled and his mouth was wide open with a yawn.

"Mornin'." Minato said, collapsing into one of the chairs in the large kitchen.

The Kitchen was large indeed. The walls were painted a light sky-blue colour with white clouds decorating it and the floor was tiled a peachy beige. The counters were a dark oak wood but still fit in with the theme and the knobs were gold. In the corner of the kitchen sat probably the biggest fridge in the world as three bottomless pits for stomachs needed that amount of food. Near it was a stainless steel sink which was probably from one of the more high tech villages that sparkled as despite having heavy eaters they were all OCD in a way and wanted the house itself clean. On top of the counter was a rice cooker machine that was currently allowing steam to waft through the room as Kushina was making breakfast. In between two counter blocks sat a high tec stove that actually was computerized so that a voice repeated any actions made such as "turning temperature to 250 degrees." On the stove sat two pots that had steam coming out. One of them smelt like miso soup while the other smelt like vegetables cooking, a pan was near it that smelt of grilled salmon too. On the counter there was four plates all with sliced tofu on them.

"Four plates?" Minato and Naruko looked at Kushina with questioning glances. While Minato cocked his head to the side, Naruko looked up as she was currently sat with the woman in question braiding her hair.

"Yes, four plates. I'm so glad you can count!" Kushina said sarcastically, though it was light with joking nature and fondness. "Kakashi, Naruko's best friend is coming over for breakfast. Hospitality, right?!"

Kushina shot a dark glare at Minato who had coughed on air that practically said 'say something and you won't be eating anything'.

"Hah, Kakashi?" Naruko said eyes widening in surprise. When did Kakashi and her kaa-san grow so clo—no scratch that, kaa-san probably forced him considering how… _influential _she could be.

"I better go get changed then. He'll probably make some remark about how I'm not even dressed for a big moment –ttebane!" When Kushina had finished, Naruko hopped of the seat and dashed to her bedroom.

"Young love…" Kushina sighed sweetly, moving on to make breakfast, ignoring Minato's squeal.

Her eyebrows did twitch, however.

**.**

Kakashi didn't know how to react when Kushina-san had told him to come over for breakfast. Why was she even doing that? It wasn't needed because his tou-san was back.

"Father, do I have to go?" He practically whined.

Sakumo shot his son a look sighing. Why did Kakashi have to take after his mother who was the shy one who didn't like interacting much?

"Go," Sakumo said firmly. "Anyway, I have a mission today—" seeing Kakashi's look he raised his hands in a defensive position "—this will be the last mission for three months because I apparently deserve it."

"You do deserve it," Kakashi said firmly, folding his arms. Maybe him and Sakumo could invite Naruko over one da—what was he talking about?!

Yes, Naruko was his _only _friend but it didn't mean they were close or anything. Jeez, what was he thinking?

"Go," Sakumo repeated. "I need to go now because Hokage-sama expects me there in 10 at six thirty and you can't even boil an egg without making a fire so go,"

Sakumo snickered when Kakashi blushed to his ears.

**.**

After Naruko had pulled on some appropriate clothes, not showering because she had showered in the night, she bounded down the stairs and waved at Kakashi. Kakashi nodded back and she sighed.

She linked arms with him and dragged him to sit next to her on one side of the table where four chairs were sat; her parents on the other side.

"It's nice to know that you actually came," Naruko said grinning, punching his arm gently. "For a second I thought you weren't going to come."

Kakashi folded his hands under his chin and Naruko nearly giggled at the sight; Sasuke did the very same thing back in the Academy. "Ow! You didn't need to punch me!"

"Haha," Naruko laughed quietly. _That's _what made him blow up and not all those taunts Obito-san through at him?!

"Let's dig in, I'm starving!" Minato said, clapping his hands together once. He had recovered from his shock and decided that this time… that _this one time_, he wouldn't be _too_ protective of his daughter. Also, if anything went wrong, Naruko could blast him into another dimension.

"Yes, lets!" Kushina said, equally enthusiastic. She had bought this cookbook at a market nearby and it was pretty pricy at ¥3600 (£20/$30) compared to the cookbooks that they used to sell in… Uzushiogakure.

Soon everyone had raised their cutlery so they could eat after bowing their heads and saying "Itadakimasu."

"Hey Kakashi?" Naruko said, setting her chopsticks down for a second.

"Yes?" Kakashi secretly was annoyed that he couldn't eat his food yet. It all looked very nice.

"How are you going to eat with the mask on?" That grabbed everyone's attention.

"I'd like to know too," Minato said, resting his right cheek on his right hand which was curled into a fist.

"Me three," Kushina stated.

"My dad created a jutsu so that the food could pass through the mask."

"I see," The three said in unison before they dug into their food.

Kakashi smiled a bit; it had been a while since he had eaten with anyone besides his father and it felt nice, to be honest.

**.**

"Nee-chan?" Naruko said as she, Kushina and Kakashi walked through Konoha market and waved at everyone who waved to them. "Why are you walking us?"

"Because…" The two leaned in as Kushina's voice decreased until it was a whisper. "…It's a secret!"

To emphasize, she placed her index finger on her lips.

The two groaned in annoyance.

"Whatever," Kakashi grumbled, his pace slowing a bit though still quick enough to walk with them.

**.**

Between several conversations time had flown and before they all knew it they were at the academy.

"I'll see you later Nee-chan!" Naruko said, hugging the elder's waist.

"Goodbye," Kakashi said, dipping his head.

"Oh no, I'm coming with. I'm teaching as a Jounin."

"Really?! Who are you teaching?" Naruko and even Kakashi hoped it would be her.

"I'm teaching the team with Maito Gai in it, I'd love to teach you guys though but I can't change the rules, sadly." Kushina faked sadness and almost laughed when Naruko and Kakashi hung their heads.

"Maito Gai and his team will be in your room because too little people in his class passed to use a whole room especially when the school needs all the rooms they can get, so I'll follow you to your class."

At this point, Kakashi was catching on but he didn't say anything.

Though Kushina said that she would follow, for some reason she ended up leading; walking with such a fast pace that Naruko and Kakashi could only linger in the back.

"Such a shame; Kushina-nee would have been so epic." Naruko whined, throwing her hands into the air angrily, resisting the urge to swear because her mother was right in front of her. "She could have taught us all these cool Ninjutsu and some Kenjutsu!"

"I agree," Kakashi knew at this point that Kushina was lying and most likely had Naruko, Obito, Rin and him but for the sake of a couple laughs, or smirks in his case, he decided to not tell Naruko. Besides, what harm could it do?

"She also had this really cool jutsu where she could box in her oponents with whirlpools which would completely erase their existence from the world or if she channelled less chakra, she could lower oxygen levels and have them suffocate!" though it was morbid, it was cool and Naruko loved cool. "She told me that in her older village, Uzushio, that the jutsu was S-ranked!"

"I doubt she'd teach anyone but you if she was our sensei." Kakashi was pretty upset at this fact but he knew what he had just said was true. It was probably an original thing and while having that jutsu along with a lot of chakra would have been a cool trump card, especially since wind channelled with chakra moves extremely fast, he wouldn't have liked it himself if some snot-nosed brat (although he didn't consider himself one) had stolen the completed-in-the-future Chidori that he had created himself through hard work.

"Why?" Naruko, though knowing what he meant, questioned.

"Because no-one likes a copy-cat."

Naruko snorted. Once on a mission with the team seven after their first C-class mission, Kakashi-sensei had said the same thing and Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow. Kakashi-sensei had raised one back. "I guess."

They both fell into a comfortable silence as they rounded the corner to their to-be-old classroom.

"We're here!" Kushina said, causing the peaceful silence to shatter as Naruko ran into the room and dropped in a seat right next to Shima, the Nara girl. Shima had shoulder-length black hair tied into a messy ponytail with a small black band. She had half-lidded charcoal-black eyes. She was clad in green cargo shorts and a black t-shirt with ninja sandals, her Konoha band tied onto her arm sloppily.

"Naruko…" Shima acknowleged for a second, shooting a look at the class, then Kushina who was talking to Jin and then Kakashi who sat in his and Naruko's table and was surrounded by girls who asked to sit next to him (he obviously say no) and then Naruko before sighing and dropping her head on the table. "Boring. Tiring." She spoke in short snippets. Though she was lazy, like a pinapple-head Naru used to know, she had the closest IQ level to Shikamaru.

Shima couldn't hide the fact that although team 10 had alright people, they hadn't had the usual trio; probably because Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara and Chouza Akimichi had graduated seven years ago and the mothers of the clans (seeing as it wasn't a large clan with only 40 women and only a quarter of them were pregnant right now, the rest having children under six or not having children yet).

"Nothing is ever exciting to you is it?" Naruko raised a blonde eyebrow in question but was met with dead silence from her friend… before light snoring caught her ears. "Baka…"

"Okay class! All the sensei's are here now and we will start sending you off with them!" Jin-sensei said, raising an arm into the air to get them to be quiet. "We will start with team 10 and work our way down."

"Team 10; your sensei, Yamanaka Inoichi will take you now."

"Bye!" Naruko said, waving as Shima got up.

_Ah… So that's my sensei _Shima thought. When the sensei's were read out she had just fallen asleep so she didn't hear. She racked her brain as she walked down the small stairs to her sensei for, considering the abilities of her teammates, the next two years why Yamanaka Inoichi was taking on a team when he had always expressed interest, at least her father had said so, in the Torture (she shivered a bit) and Intelligence group so why was he teaching them.

Then it clicked; the requirement to skip the basic training, which he had already studied most likely, you had to spend at least a year as a sensei to prove that you would be able to not only strategize for missions, show teamwork with younger peers but also show that if you were to become the leader/head of either division you had to have experience being a leader.

"Boring. Tiring." She mumbled, groaning under her breath in exasperation.

She'd probably try and win the Chūnin exams so that she could settle down doing something less boring. Like code cracking.

* * *

Naruko glanced around the class, nearly shooting a childish glance of half-hearted envy at Gai. Gai could barely use chakra and if he wanted to use nearly as much as Kushina had, he'd have to have better chakra control than Tsunade which was unlikey—plus he was a prodigy as Taijutsu and him himself loved it very much. But that also made her think; why would they pair a Ninjutsu, Fūinjutsu and Kenjutsu specialist against a Taijutsu master in the making? Even Kushina herself had said that her Taijutsu was basic Jounin level.

It'd be better if Kushina was paired with those with above average chakra levels; like herself, Kakashi and Obit—

Naruko then realised that Kushina was lying to her—obviously in a joking and surprising-you way.

Naruko shot a glance at Kakashi, locking eyes with him and giving him a slow nod. Kakashi nodded quickly and turned back to Jin-sensei before he got in trouble.

_**Chicken **_Kurami grumbled.

_I know ri—_just as Naruko was about to finish her thought, Jin had mentioned team seven and caught Naruko's attention.

"Kushina-sensei, who for reasons—" Jin-sensei started sweating under her now-beady gaze, "—that were defiantly reasonable, didn't say who the sensei was of team seven. Now, I'll say it. Naruko, Obito, Rin and Kakashi your new sensei is Kushina Uzumaki!"

Whispers, though not many because the gossip-'blessed' children were gone (being in either team nine or eight, not ten because one was too lazy, the other was too shy and the last cared only about becoming a good ninja) broke out and Jin raised his hands and gathered silence once more.

Kushina threw the four a cheeky grin before holding up four fingers. "Meet me in training ground ten in four minutes. _Don't be late!_"

Even Obito wouldn't bother with stopping, the others mused although they were all sweating a bit.

Man, Naruko's sister was a demon!

* * *

*** I got this idea from the national woman's football team called Nadeshiko Japan.**

**This was actually my longest chapter yet with 9000 words and this, although I wanted to do a marathon and get it completed in one or two days I found myself being hooked on some Tom Riddle/Harry Potter fanfictions. If you like them too and are looking for some great ones, I really suggest that you read nearly all of Watermelonsmellinfellon's HP fanfictions and Tsume Yuki's as well; they're both really good HP writers. You probably know about both of them because they're really popular Naruto fanfiction writers. Check their Naruto fics too! Anyway, if you have any reccomendations for Harry Potter fanfiction then please leave them in a review. All reviews, even a small smiley face or an emoji that can't show up on the desktop mode counts and makes me feel all the more happier so please make a tired (tired from violin practice and walking all the way home because of diversion) writer happy and relieved.**


	11. Chapter 11 - Genin Team 7

**Thank you for 200 follows! I never expected so many people to follow and like this and we're not that far from 200 favourites to so I can't wait to thank you guys for that soon. We soon are at 100 reviews, 29 and counting. **

**PS: I got quite emotional in this chapter because I had just listened to Jonghyun's new album. It's beautiful. **

**This chapter is mainly from Kushina's POV just because I started with it I decided to continue with it..**

**-X**

* * *

Kushina grinned cheekily to herself, despite the constant tapping of her foot while she waited for the Gaki's to arrive. Little could get better, she'd like to say, but at this moment she knew a lot could get worse.

Minato had already told her about Iwa, Kumo and Suna. To be frank, she didn't and never would like Kumo and she still held resentment to some of Kumo. She knew that out there in Kumo there were some of them who were against kidnapping her when she was younger and for that she didn't hate or dislike them for now but the rest of Kumo, mainly the council and a couple bigoted idiots, who had agreed with the motion for kidnapping her and for that she would forever hate those few.

Enough about herself, Kushina mused still keeping up the illusion of a cheekily-grinning red-head who was tapping her foot impatiently. She knew war was around the corner, to quote Minato's words, and she knew that Naruko, yet again would be caught up in war and strife. Naruko, no matter where she went, seemed to always get the short end of the stick.

She did, however, have a new Fuuinjutsu idea that could contribute to the war a lot more than if she didn't offer it.

Seeing numerous mops of different coloured hair, three blurring towards her while one walking behind by a large gap, Kushina pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind. She would go over them and carefully discard the information that she either knew already or was of irrelevance.

A minute later, three of the four had made it to the training ground and while they were lightly panting they hadn't tired themselves too much. Though it did seem that the second girl of the group had less stamina than Kakashi and Naruko. She frowned a bit, she'd have to work on that.

A couple of minutes later, in which Kushina contemplated failing the last boy because of his tardiness (as shinobi's always had to be on time to important meeting scheduled by their higher ups) a heavily panting boy finally reached the 'x' Kushina was standing on and bowed lowly.

"Gomenasai Kushina-sensei, I stumbled across a trapped butterfly and freed it, gomen." Obito muttered under his breath while trying to gain said thing back.

"It's okay," Kushina said, deciding to ignore the prominent twitch in her eyebrow. She raked her eyes over the gaki's and plopped onto the floor crossing her legs.

Clapping her hands together to draw the attention of the others who had just been standing there in surprising silence, she motioned for them to sit and when they did she grinned foxily.

"So now young brats," she said, stifling a laugh when four pairs of eyes glared holes into her, "Tell me a bit about yourself please -ttebane"

Seeing the glare fixed at them by the red-haired they pointedly ignored the verbal tick on the end; for survival, ya know?

Kushina was fairly pleased. None of them were silly enough to cut her off because of excitement to speak about herself nor did they ask her to speak. Taking the initiative, Kushina pointed her thumb at herself grinned. "I'll go first to show you what I'm talking about."

"My name is Kushina Uzumaki, aged 20 and I'm Naruko's big sister. My hobby is spending time with my loved ones and family. I _love _ramen as it's the gift from the god but I also love Naruko's baking while I dislike horse radish –ttebane!" To emphasize the point, Kushina shivered at the end.

"Now you… Rin." Kushina said, checking the little sheet she had.

"H-hai!" Rin shot up from her slouched position, brushing of imaginary lint of her ninja skirt while twirling a lock of smooth hair with another. "My name is Nohara Rin and I'm 9 years old. My hobby is flower pressing. I like K—spending time with Obito while I dislike… Ha, it probably sounds stupid but I don't like spiders."

Kushina nodded but inwardly she was shaking her head. She had a fangirl, though she was trying to reign it in which was always a good thing. Kushina had work to do; she'd have to get rid of her fear of Spiders.

"Good…. Obito?"

"H-Hai?" Obito shot up from his extremely slouched position as he was most likely sleeping.

"Introduction?" Kushina prodded while clicking her tongue. She'd have to drill manners into him; though… Kushina's manners around many wasn't the best either. Hehe…

"Oh yes!" Obito cleared his throat dramatically, "The name's Obito Uchiha, the next hokage of Konoha!"

Naruko nearly choked on her spit. Seriously? First Konohamaru and now Obito! Everyone was becoming her rival!

"My hobby is helping out those who need it—" at this Kushina smiled _he really does have a kind heart. _

"Ano… I like learning more Uchiha jutsu and hanging out with Rin-chan," At this, Obito blushed lightly, "And I used to dislike Kakashi because he was—_because _he was a teme," Obito pointedly ignored the hacking coming from Naruko, "but now I don't dislike him. I guess I dislike the way the Uchi—Salmon because it's slimy and disgusting!" Obito, to emphasize his point, pretended to retch before he placed his arms behind his head and resumed his previous position of cloud gazing.

He didn't notice the group's exchanged glances.

"Kakashi," Kushina nodded her head towards him. When he shook his head, she glared and grinned in satisfaction when he started sweating bullets.

"Hn." Kakashi grunted. "I'm Kakashi. My hobbies are training and spending time with my father and maybe Naruko—" Kushina noticed how his voice got quieter near the end and grinned, Naruko – judging by her pleased face – had heard.

"I like training and onigiri and I dislike fangirls," Kakashi resisted sending a pointed glance at Rin; she'd probably get the message.

Naruko hoped at this moment that Rin wasn't like the younger Sakura because if she was Naruko would rather meet the devil than deal with a Sakura-like Rin.

"Naruko." Kushina said, forcing herself to put on the ko as she usually said Naru or Naru-chan.

"Hai," Naruko said grinning. "My hobbies are training and spending time with those I love; I actually have recently been collecting music to so I guess I could add that…" Naruko trailed off a bit before jumping back into her conversation, "I like ramen and learning new Jutsu! And I guess I dislike…" Naruko's eyes darkened a bit, her bright cerulean eyes clouding over a bit, "I dislike traitors. I'll tell you right now. As of this moment, all the pity rivalries we may of held and the childish dislike _has _to be put behind. I've watched people I loved die because of my foolishness and I won't let my family—you all—get hurt because of mine and equally your's childishness. Someone once told me that those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their comrades are even worse than trash."

A silence fell over the training ground and Kushina, with misty eyes, glanced around at everyone there. In sync, they all had bowed heads and closed eyes. Obito was clenching his fist while Rin opened her eyes, shot Naruko a look and mouthed 'I'm sorry', Kakashi's eyes were screwed shut and his sandal-clad feet were curled. He looked pale. Naruko had a solemn smile on her face and in that moment she looked much older than she was. Like a soldier through war.

Kushina clapped her hands, drawing the attention of the others. "What Naruko just said was right. While it's our job to defend our village and our civilians never forget that the Shinobi of Konoha are just like your second, third maybe even hundredth family yet that doesn't weaken the bond between us. From this moment on, we take steps together. Take heed of this; I too once heard something that changed my life from a woman who used to take care of me."

The four leant in.

Kushina drew in a shaky breath. "She once told me; 'nothing can be done in this world without sacrifice. Choosing to save that last drop of chakra could save a nation for all we know. Investing time in something we see as stupid could save our village from peril. Remembering those close to you and holding them in your heart can wipe the fog from our brains. Never leave those you love for power. Don't leave them because you won't realize what they meant to you until they're gone. And when you come back, ready for them to run into your arms like they used to do; you'll realize at that moment that they've already moved on. Whether it's they've gotten a family of their own, or they've achieved their life long dream without you… or even, they've died, don't leave them because in a world like this, family is all you've got. Don't separate them by name or even colour or race. Because at the end of the day family is family. Just that and nothing else. Don't take what you have for granted'"

By the last words they all had a tear or two and even Kakashi covered his eyes and the faint sniffling told her that it wasn't just some dust in his eyes.

"Since we've opened up a bit—" and it was true. They all looked relaxed around each other. Rin was no longer hesitant in liking Naruko and Obito didn't have his dark thoughts swirling around his mind. Kakashi didn't look tense and angry and Naruko finally had cleared the mist from her eyes, a small smile set in place. "You've passed your test. Before you jump up, please just let's just lay here in silence. Appreciate nature for once; we always take it for granted."

And that's were Minato found his fiancé, his daughter, Kakashi, Rin and Obito; lying on the grass with content smiles on their faces, eyes closed and different heads of hair waving gently in the air. Without a sound, Minato joined them.

It felt nice to be this relaxed. He could tell that he would like this team.

While they knew how to be a shinobi they also knew how to be human.

It was times like this when Minato realised that sometimes silence was the best remedy.


	12. Chapter 12 - Ice Cream

**Thank you for all feedback :) It shouldn't take more than five seconds to leave a review, so please do!**

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"'Kashi!" Sakumo yelled, impatiently tapping his foot to a steady rhythm. He and Kakashi were listening to the radio that morning and the ever-so annoying yet catchy theme tune of the currently most popular kid's show in Konoha _Ninja Life; Remake __**just**_ had to make it in the number one charts. Honestly, what did little civilian children see in the show? Seeing as shinobi children hated the prospect of liking and show and wanting to be like the foolish characters civilian's weren't so immune. In fact, because of their silliness and childishness of wanting do know what 'real ninja's' did on a daily basis the owner of the show was probably rich enough to blow his nose with ryo every day. "If you're not down in three seconds, you're paying for your own ice cream!"

The very faint curses became much louder and distant crashes were heard. Sakumo crossed his fingers, hoping that Kakashi would pay for his own ice cream. Kakashi and ice cream was like Naruko and her 'food from the gods'… Ramen. Kakashi had to have it at least once a week or he'd become all stroppy and grumpy. That's why Kakashi almost never had money on him; because he was always spending it on ice cream.

And it wasn't even the cheap ice cream from the _slightly _dodgy ice cream vans that blared music that was hypnotic to little children and would dip slightly into their parent's loose change. _No! _Kakashi demanded the best of the best ice cream; claiming that he had to cherish it properly. Everytime Sakumo offered to pay, Kakashi would drag his father to the most expensive Ice cream parlor in Konoha and spend over 300 ryo (about 3000 yen) at whatever parlor they went to.

Sakumo was considering getting counselling for Kakashi's addiction.

In Sakumo's musing he didn't notice Kakashi tapping his arm. "Otou-san, ready to go." Kakashi said, eye smiling faintly.

Kakashi's silvery-white hair still defied gravity, so much that it would have had Hagaromo questioning that even his gravity mastery couldn't compare, although it was held back a bit with his blue-clothed hitai-ate. Kakashi usually wore his loose black outfit with the black near skin-tight top brown straps with full sleeved and mask attached and black shinobi trousers that flared out near the end but was taped down with shinobi tape, but instead he wore a navy blue t-shirt and beige cargo shorts with his shinobi sandals and a pouch of Kunai's just in case.

"Come on," Sakumo said, half-whining as he could _feel _his money disappearing already. Stuffing his hands into his navy-blue cargo short pockets he nudged Kakashi. "Go on, you're choosing aren't you?"

Kakashi's eye brightened, "Un!" He nodded in approval and almost skipped out of the house. Sakumo followed closely, shaking his head.

If one looked closely, they may have seen anime tears trailing behind him.

-x

Kakashi looked at his Father, watching the flashing expressions on his face. First there was the annoyance and sadness but Kakashi could easily tell It was just a front. What made a genuine smile light up on his face was the fact that beneath the annoyance and sadness (probably Sakumo weeping after his money) he could see his Otou-san's eyes alight with… pride?

Ah, it probably had something to do with what happened during their first Genin meeting. Kakashi, himself, hadn't fully realised it for a while but both Kushina-sensei's and Naruko's speech had opened up something in Kakashi. Kakashi himself hadn't realized it but he really held what Naruko said to heart. The fact that while abandoning your mission was bad but abandoning your comrades was worse.

While Naruko's energetic personality and stupidity (though she was smart) could grate on his nerves a bit he had yet to have a moment were she had honestly annoyed him. While he would say she was annoying and that she was annoying him she actually wasn't. Around her it was much easier to smile; just like when Kakashi was around his dad. He was glad Naruko came into his life, albeit mysteriously. If it wasn't for Naruko he would have never met people he wanted to protect; his village even more now, the sensei's to the little kids running around declaring they were going to be kick ass ninja's to the old Hiruzen Sarutobi who was a pervert to the core. He had also met Kushina and Minato which were like his second family and always welcomed him regardless of time and location. And even his own family; his relationship with his Father had gotten stronger ever since Naruko had forcibly broken down the walls of concrete he had been building for years.

Kakashi learned to appreciate the little things.

-x

"This one?" Kakashi questioned, tapping his father's shoulder, which – to his embarrassment – he had to tiptoe to do, to show him where Kakashi had picked.

Whirling around, Sakumo had expected to see this quiet, quaint and overly posh-for-a-ice-cream-shop place that would charge 40 ryo (400 yen) for a _cone_, so imagine his surprise when Kakashi pointed at a pristine white ice cream van that was flocked with little children. Craning his head to look behind—

Sakumo was slapped on the head. Kakashi clicked his tongue and shook his head in disapproval. "_Yes_, I chose the van. I wanted a change for once."

Sakumo dropped to his knees, anime tears trailing down his face in rapid movements. His eyes glinted with hope and he bowed his head on the floor before clapping his hands together and praying. "Thank you Kami-sama for sparing my mone—"

Another slap.

"Baka." Kakashi said coolly, but even the 'emo' Kakashi couldn't hide his slight grin. "Let's go."

Sakumo smiled fondly at his son, happiness bubbling up inside him. "Right, Mr. Hatake Kakashi sir!"

A fake salute was thrown and the resounding echo of a slap was heard.


	13. Chapter 13 - Ichiraku Ramen

**A/N: Thanks so much for 86 reviews! 14 until 100! WOOP! Okay, on a serious note, I think I will start moving on with the plot now. So this not a fully AU story as the war will still happen, just not for a couple more chapters. BUT, the story will start it's journey through the plot either in the next chapter or the next, next chapter as I don't want this to long out too much. Yes, there will be casualties and there may be character death, actually I'm not going to tell you if there actually is.**

**EDIT: If you are reading this past about 20:00 (GBT) on 28/09/2015, then this has been edited. **

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Minato sighed in relief as his Kage Bunshin dispelled. Naruko was helpful enough to have suggested the use of Kage Bunshin for paperwork and now the purple bags that were become more and more defined were disappearing. Humming a happy tune, Minato greeted his receptionist with a cheerful wave and nodded to the ANBU who were hiding and even greeted the Chuunin that were guarding the door. All in all, Minato was feeling pretty happy today.

Closing the Hokage doors quietly, Minato plopped into his seat and his stomach rumbled as the whiff of the food in his takeaway bag wafted into his nose. Grabbing the chopsticks, he tore them apart and opened his Ramen container. Minato drooled at the food of the gods and with a cheerful 'Itadakimasu' he was prepared to start digging into his Ramen when…

"O—Nii-san!" Came a loud yell and the Hokage door slammed open to reveal his daughter with a large grin on her face. Behind her was her team and Kushina.

Although he was glad to see his fiancé and his daughter his ramen was crying for him. "Oh, is that ramen?"

Minato drew in a breath, expecting the worse. To his surprise, Naruko pushed the topic of ramen aside. "Nii-san have you got any missions for us?"

Minato nodded, covering up his ramen again. He'd have to reheat it later.

"Actually, yes. Since you've just started out as a Genin team you haven't reached the requirement of 40 d-ranks to do a C-rank so I've got your first d-rank mission." Minato said, cupping his chin in though as he used his other hand to flick through todays submissions. "Ah, I've got three left. The first is painting the fence, second doing some shopping and the last one, which has been ignored since this morning, helping Juie at Ichirak—"

"Ichiraku?!" Naruko exclaimed, eyes shining with glee. "Yes, yes, yes!"

Obito grinned. "Yeah maybe we can get a discount too."

Rin smiled, twirling a lock of hair with her finger, "Yes, I haven't have ramen in years now. Kaa-san would like it."

Kakashi, as usual, grumbled and said nothing but nodded his head. Kushina rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Team seven will do the mission involving helping Jue." Kushina, inwardly, was pumping her firsts in the air with stars in her eyes. '_Yes! Ramen and pay?! Best day ever!'_

"Okay team," Kushina said, gaining their attention, "We'll go home and get changed and then meet up at Ichiraku. Come Naru."

"Hai!" Naruko cheered, skipping after her mother.

-x

It was fifteen minutes later and Naruko and Kushina were walking through Konoha Market, which was the fastest route to Ichiraku.

Naruko was currently taking in the sites while Kushina was reading a book. Naruko wore a dark red top with long sleeves going to her wrist and underneath the top was a small necklace with a dangling purple gem(1). Naruko wore on her legs a pair of khaki shorts going to her knees and the basic shinobi sandals.

Kushina wore a navy blue outfit underneath a simple Chinese-style dress with cycle shorts. The Chinese dress was a deep red colour like wine and had small imprints of an oak-leaf design on it and wore her Jounin jacket loosesly. She too wore shinobi sandals although they were the navy blue ones and not the beige that Naruko had dyed.

"Nee-san, Rin is there!" Naruko said, pointing to the far distance.

True to her word, Rin was there; Rin rocking on her heels with her hands clasped behind her back. Rin wore a dark purple summer dress with cycle shorts underneath and blue flats. Her hair was tied back into a small ponytail and was pushed back by her Konoha hitai-ate, polishing in all its glory. Her purple marks seemed brighter and more radiant and her eye's were bright and unclouded like before. She had a respectful smile on her face.

"Naru-san, Kushina-sensei," Rin said respectfully, nodding her head.

"Ah, Rin-chan call me Naru or Naru-chan!" Naruko stressed, crossing her arms in an exasperated fashion.

Rin giggled behind her hands, rocking on the balls of her feet. "Sure N-Naru-chan. Only if you call me Rin-chan though!"

Taking on a mock brooding position the two preteens burst into laughter just as their sensei noted Kakashi coming. "There's the little gaki," the two girls giggled and Kakashi raised a silver eyebrow as he came closer.

"What are you two doing?" Kakashi said suspiciously, hesitation radiating off him as he studied the two giggling teammates.

"Nothing much!" Naruko chirped, taking a quick look at Kakashi's outfit—half expecting him to have another pair of his usual clothing and 500 kunai on him.

To her surprise, Kakashi was dressed pretty normally and could pass for a civilian if not for his hitai-ate, posture and pouch hanging off his left leg. Kakashi wore a plain black t-shirt with short sleeves, seeing as the June weather was starting to kick in, a very loose black jumper tied around his waists and checked shorts that stopped at his knees and basic shinobi sandals. Honestly, every shinobi and kunoichi wore them even when not on mission or relaxing.

"So, where's Obito?" Kakashi asked coolly, leaning back on the wood frame of the ramen stall. Considering the fact that the owner and his staff were civilian they probably didn't know they were outside. "At this rate, we'll fail our tenth D-rank—"

"Don't worry," Kushina grinned, cutting him off as she stuffed her hands in her Jounin flak jacket casually, not at all worried. "From academic reports I saw that he's nearly always two hours late so I told him that we had to be there for 10 when the mission starts at 12."

"Wow sensei," Rin said, Impressed. No-one had thought of that yet. She voiced her thoughts. "In academy, not even the teachers thought of that. He just always did his tests after school."

"Really –ttebane?" Kushina grinned slyly. "I guess I'm just that awesome –ttebane."

"No not re—" Kakashi started but was cut off with a sharp glare.

"Finish that and you'll find yourself in the hospital ward!" Kushina snapped. People around the small group cowered away as a K.I matching the Yondaime's at his peak anger invaded the air. The Shinobi around tensed and began sweating bullets, hurriedly leaving the area when they spotted their Hokage's best friend (2).

As Shikamaru would've said; troublesome.

"Anyway," Kushina said looking at an imaginary watch on her arm, tapping her feet. "Obito should be here in five, four, three… two… on—"

In the distance, a huge dust cloud emerged from no-where and the faint figure of a boy dashing like wind through the cloud was made out until Obito tumbled onto the floor, rolling until he reached the feet of Rin. "Ah, Gomene Rin-chan!"

Obito leaped up. "Gomenasai, Kushina-sensei!"

"Maa maa," Kushina said, waving her hand in dismissal. "You're just on time, in fact."

Obito looked like he wanted to say more but just shut his mouth and nodded.

-x

Rin couldn't bring herself to hate or dislike Naruko. From the moment Naruko shot her that kind smile after their first d-rank, Rin's dislike dissolved like salt and water. She couldn't even remember why she had disliked Naruko, even if she did have a bit of a crush of Kakashi and Naruko had a larger chance of being with him. Naruko was kind, strong, beautiful, determined… there were so many words that could have been used to describe Naruko. It made Rin look up to her and want to be as strong and as brave at Naruko was. She remembered their first d-rank where they had to paint an elderly's house and Rin had given up but Naruko had inspired her to continue on.

_Flashback_

"_I don't want to do this anymore," Rin complained, throwing her paint brush on the floor. Fully prepared to stomp out of the room, she froze when she heard Naruko's soft voice._

"_Do you really want to give up on this? It may seem like simple painting that's not worth your time but to this person this is a house full of memories, both painful and enjoyable. This is years of love, trust and family combined into a single object and we have the job of adding another layer of memory, ready for the next family to claim as theirs and to look at and pass for years until the paint is chipped and old. Do you really want to stop that process because you can't be bothered? That isn't the Rin I know. That isn't the Rin I want to know." _

_End Flashback_

Steeling her resolution, Rin felt her marks get lighter and her eyes uncloud. She smiled softly, another effect of her clan. When most impurities were lifted from oneself their marks became lighter and lighter. The founder of her clan, Nakimora Nohara was rumoured to have a purple that was as light as the Hyuuga's pupils and rivalled the purple of a lilac. She wanted to live up to her expectations.

She felt her marks get even lighter until they resembled a medium purple, bordering on indigo.

-x

Rin watched amazed as Naruko's slumped position straightened suddenly and Rin's confusion melted into curious amusement as the smell of ramen came to be.

"You guys worked hard today," Juie said, honestly impressed. The middle-aged man, Juie, had been the 4th owner of Ichiraku Ramen, rumoured to have been around during the Shodai's time and had been Uzumaki Mito's favourite stall. Juie had dark brown hair that was tousled but gelled back a bit and piercing dark green eyes. Anyone could have seen that in his prime he was a good looker and a keeper. Maybe that was why his wife had said the day they got married that she was a lucky woman to have grabbed him. Speaking of his wife, Aiko was currently making the broth.

It amazed him that she made ramen that even the Daimyo liked. During New Year, everyone in Konoha would flock to her stall in the festival to taste her limited edition New Year Ramen that was only made 150 times every year. If not for Aiko's calm yet firm personality everyone there would have been like zoo animals.

"Aiko-chan," Juie said, passing her an empty bowl to which she smirked at and placed in the sink. "Another Miso ramen please. Extra eggs this time."

Aiko smirked good naturedly. "I bet you regret saying that it was on the house." It was nice to see that her food was appreciated so much. Everyone in Konoha loved her and Juie's ramen but she had never seen someone so in love with ramen 'till this day. Even Kushina and Minato combined couldn't compare.

"Don't remind me about it," Juie moaned, tossing the ramen noodles twice before he slid it to Naruko who grinned once and dug in again. "So many supplies," he bemoaned, glancing longingly at the empty packets of food and empty tins.

"Not my fault," Aiko chuckled heartily. "Remember your tou-san and _his _tou-san said '_Beware of the Uzumaki_'. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a prophecy on that."

Juie grinned back and the two fell into a comfortable silence, making the last ramen bowl before Naruko's appreciative sigh filled the near empty stall.

"I haven't had ramen in ages!" Naruko complained. Even in her past life, she hadn't had it for a year.

"Oh, Naruko?" Kakashi questioned and continued when Naruko mumbled 'yeah'. "Tell us a bit about your life before Konoha. The way you speak of the time you haven't had ramen seems like years and you've only been in Konoha about eight months to a year."

Naruko adopted this soft look in her eyes, eyeing the small puddle of ramen left and swirling it with her chopsticks. "Yeah, It has been years." She said quietly, capturing the attention of Rin, Obito and Kushina who had been discussing how you could use chopsticks in battle and how much of a hoover Naruko was. "The last time I had ramen, I was seven. Because my family died in an attack of our village, Tsukigakure, I was often on my own so I grew a love of Ramen. I remember, my parents used to always tell me that there would always be one thing that could calm even the wildest of people. For my kaa-san, Minato-nii's aunty, Kaide Namikaze(3), it was hot chocolate. Even when in the angriest of moods a hot chocolate could calm her down. For me it's ramen. My mother used to always speak about Minato-nii and how great yet mischievous he was as a child. She was very fond of him." Her eyes glazed over a bit.

Kakashi looked impassive but on the inside he wanted nothing more than to hug Naruko. She understood the pain of loving someone and losing them. "What about your father?"

"My father was always at work and never spent much time with us but it didn't matter much because we knew he loved us and would always make it up on holidays."

They could sense the finality in her voice and dropped the conversation. "Should we go have a walk for a bit before we go to the Hokage tower?" Kushina suggested, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"Hai," said their team.

"Thank you for your ramen!" Obito said, bowing before he caught up with his group. He truly loved his group and couldn't imagine life without them. Some would say it was too soon to judge but he thought if anything it was the right time.

They were his family, practically.

**Two of the same things can't exist in one universe. In this universe, Tsunade hasn't given Naruko her necklace so Naruko can't have it or she'd arouse suspicion so the universe changed it to purple and not green/blue.**

**The world doesn't know of their relationship and assumes that they are best friends seeing as the two aren't big on PDA so they won't do it unless around close and trusted friends. Seeing as both of them are high-ranking ninja's with enemies they don't want their relationship to be announced until they are officially married and Kushina has the ANBU protection covering her. **

**I thought it would make the story more convincing if there was an actual OC placed in. Don't worry, she won't hold much significance, if any, later on.**

**IMPORTANT QUESTION: Should Obito still live? If you guys say no, then I'll have 3 bad guys (including Madara) and if not then I'll only have two (including Madara) so please leave a review, even if it is just a 'no don't kill Obito'. That leads me onto another point; this story has nearly 30'000 views yet only 86 reviews? It only takes you guys three or four minutes to read this chapter but it takes me hours to type it. I've rewritten this chapter about 5 times, now. So while some of you guys are complaining that my chapters are too short, and there are those of you who have asked politely for longer chapters like **sunrisehime**, who constantly makes the effort to review to my story some of you guys are downright rude to me and I won't sit back and allow that to happen. So far it's only been two people and I've removed one of the comments for it's rudeness and outright bashing of people who have no control over things like sexuality and race but I just wanted to let out my pent up feelings. **

**ANYWAY, thank you all of you who have stood by me from the beginning and make the effort to review. I will definetly check out your fanfiction's if you leave me a request to! As long as it fits into my preffered pairings, genre's, anime/movie/book etc. If you want an idea of what fanfiction I like, look on my profile, I have some of my absolute favourites on there. **


	14. Chapter 14 - Ira

**Okay, thank you guys so much for 100 reviews! I did a little jig in my mind when I looked! Thank you for the 100****th**** review! It means a lot to me!**

***Firecrackers and the sort***

**In this chapter I will be moving on with the story and while the war won't start for a little while, I will be building up the happenings between Iwa and Konoha. In the next chapter, Sakumo and his mission play a part; a rather huge part of the chapter to be honest. As I am fourteen chapters in, I wanted to inform my readers of the changes so far.**

**CHANGES (Differences from CANON)**

**-Fem!Naru -Naruko/Kakashi –TimeTravel -Good!Obito -Alive!Sakumo –New enemies –Different Uzushio defeat**

**Also, if you guys want me to, I can make a character stat for each character so far to show how strong they are. The max, so godlike in strength like Hagaromo for example, would be 60 and obviously a civilian with no shinobi or defence training would be along a 1-10. Former shinobi's such as Juei and Aiko will be included too, but don't worry they're not overpowered; maybe about Jounin strength in their prime**

**-CastielIsMyAngel (Haha cool name! My friend love's supernatural!)**

**(1) Oni no Kami – rough translation of the Demon of Gods indicating a fallen god or a god who strikes fear into god-believing hearts. **

_Chapter 13_

_Two months later (September)_

Kushina was very pleased with her team after four months—she could see the increase in both their teamwork and their skills. Just a couple months ago, the four could have been written down as a hopeless case team who had little teamwork besides Naruko and Kakashi's teamwork with each other. Like a mother, she felt a connection with this team and felt that they were her family in a way.

Yesterday, she and Naru had started planning for Kakashi's birthday and were soon going to bring Obito and Rin in it to collect one big present and then they would do their separate presents. Naruko and Kushina had written down a list on a scroll of possible presents and would bring it to Rin and Obito later that day.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she waved to passing merchants and purchased an apple and bit into it. Walking toward their usual training ground with a slight spring in her step, she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair.

"Hey kiddo!" Kushina waved over the blonde, looking at the younger girl's stressed expression. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know what to get the hetakuso!" Naruko complained, throwing her arms up in exasperation as she and her mother left the flower shop. "So far, I only know that he likes Origimi, the colour Red, and Diphylleia grayi." Naruko grumbled, eyeing the objects as she and Kushina walked towards their training ground.

"Diphyellia grayi? Kushina questioned, taking a brief note at the fact that they'd arrived at their training ground. No-one was there yet; seeing as the two were ten minutes early.

"Yeah," Naruko got a cloudy look in her eyes. "They're really rare flowers and are found in the outskirts of the Land of Fire. They're a pale white but when they come in contact with water they turn transparent; diphylleia grayi is another name for Skelenton flower."

While Kushina and Naruko fell into a blissfull silence waiting for their team, Naruko pondered on the flower. _I remember once, _she thought quietly to herself, bringing her knees to her chest and resting her head on her knees, _Jiraiya and I once got them for my fifteen birthday. It was the first birthday present I ever got_

"_Gaki," Jiraiya said, motioning for Naruko to come closer. "Take a look at these!"_

"_What?" Naruko grumbled, pushing aside the foliage blocking her view. Tired, from a hard's day of training, Naruko collapsed to the floor._

_A silence befell them and Naruko took to lying on the floor. Hearing slight movement beside her, she watched as her father-like figure took a seat beside her, mimicking her movement of lying down._

"_Really beautiful, ne?" Jiraiya questioned, gently plucking a small flower from its stem and bringing it into Naruko's view. _

"_Yeah, it really is." Naruko said. Her breath was drawn from her mouth at the beauty. A small flower smaller than the average yet still very beautiful with a greenest shade of stem she'd even seen. Beautiful white petals practically floated from the centre and in the centre sat a small blue butterfly. The butterfly twitched its wings as if acknowledging Naruko and Jiraiya and took flight. "It's called Diphylleia grayi."_

"_Diphylleia grayi? Naruko questioned. From the undergrowth and forest surrounding them, animals creeped out. They relaxed besides the two humans._

"_Yes," Jiraiya confirmed. "Diphylleia grayi is Skelenton Flower in Latin. A very fitting name If I do say so myself as when water touches it, the flower becomes transparent." _

"_It really is," Naruko whispered. It was times like these where she could forget that blood would soon be spilled and that she would no longer have tranquillity like this. _

Naruko was shaken out of her memories by Obito. "Naru-chan," Obito said affectionately. He'd come to see Naruko like a little sister within the months they'd been a team. "We're going to start practicing today!"

"Hmm," Naruko nodded, getting off her feet. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles, ignoring Obito's wince. "M'kay, Obito."

"Nice to see that you've come from the land of dreams," Kushina joked. "Today we're actually going to get started with boosting your skill. So far, we've only really worked on speed and evasion. Today we'll be getting started on your clan's jutsus and taijutsu. That's why I've asked you to bring in your clan scrolls."

Kushina proceeded to channel chakra to a seal on her arm. In a matter of seconds, a quiet poof as heard and several scrolls popped out. "We'll only be doing the basics today so you only need about three scrolls. I told you to bring the ones you were most eager to learn but at the same time you felt were in your skill range."

The four nodded. Kakashi swung his backpack around and brought out five scrolls. They were a burnt ash colour and were trimmed with a copper colour. Rin was clutching her three scrolls in hand. From the colour alone you could tell that they were Medical scrolls. They were a light green and trimmed with a turquoise colour. Naruko herself had six scrolls with her and they were the standard colour for scrolls, indicating they were not specialised in anything but that could just be something to ward people off wanting them.

Obito had a single scroll with him.

"Obito?" Kushina questioned, eyeing the single scroll. "Wouldn't your parents have given you—"

"My parents are dead." At that the group winced but Obito remained deadly calm. "The rest of the Uchiha clan hate me. This was the only scroll of my parents that they'd let me have. They said I could have the rest when I became Jounin which they belive will never happen."

"Aren't you exaggerati—"

"He's telling the truth." Naru said, her face wiped of any emotion. Inwardly, however, she was steaming with anger and disgust. _So what if Obito was not the 'typical Uchiha' and spent more time honing his basic skills than trying to learn new ones without any understanding? If anything, the Uchiha were in the wrong!_

_**I agree**_ Kurami said, activating their mental connection. _**It disgusts me that they would do that. I can't believe I allowed such a clan to control me that day. Even demon foxes take better care of their Kit! **_

_I ought to do something about—_

_**You best not **_Kurami spoke wisely, _**For all we know, this could change during the war. Putting them in their place will just make things even tenser between him and the Uchiha clan. You're allowing your emotions to control you. **_Kurami said before closing the communication

True to Kurami's words, Naruko's hair had begun to take a reddish tint and now had red highlights going through her hair and her eyes were even more slitted than usual giving her a feral and angry look. With a blink of her eyes, her eyes lost the cat-like slits but her hair was still highlighted. Naruto clenched her hand and rubbed them together, a thing she did whenever nervous or trying to calm down.

"We can teach him each one of the Jutsus we know so by the end of the day he'll be on the basics for learning five jutsus." Rin supplied helpfully and Naruko nodded in gratitude. Rin saw the look Naruko had adopted and filed it away for later. She wouldn't pressure Naru when she didn't need the stress right now.

"Okay, to warm up let's play a game of Ninja Tag; my aunt taught me this a while back! We're allowed to use Taijutsu and weapons but no Jutsu seeing as some know more than others." Kushina said, clapping her hands together. "The point is to keep these," Kushina said, handing the four fluorescent-coloured tags "—from me. Imagine this as a scroll you have on a mission. I'll be looking out for all flaws so try your best but don't wear yourself down!"

"Hai!" The four nodded and dropped down into ready positions as Kushina started counting down.

"Go!" With her yell, the four split up. Kushina nodded, the four—telling by their mingling chakra—had grouped up and decided to work together to defend each other.

But would it fail or not?

-x

The four collapsed to the floor, all panting heavily. "I'm dead!" Naru rasped, pounding the grass with her fists.

"I know!" Obito whined, flopping onto his back.

Kakashi glanced down at them from his standing position. "You do know that sitting will make it worse?"

Before anyone could reply, Kushina came strolling up to them. "Well done! You would have defeated a low Chuunin with those combined skills." She didn't include the fact that Naruko and Kakashi, going all out (without Naru using the Kyuubi chakra) would have been able to take down a low Jounin.

Taking in their tired forms, Kushina sighed. She'd have to bring up their stamina. Even Naruko was a bit winded. "Okay, I want you to tell me again what are your likes and dislikes."

"We'll do light training today but bring your scrolls too tomorrow."

"Again?" Obito complained. "I'd rather you tell us an epic story of your missions!"

"Really?" Kushina sighed. "Sure. Let me tell you about the time I had to do a B-rank mission and it got bumped up to an A bordering S! I was in a team with Minato, a really nice Hyuuga called Hizashi and his idiot of a brother Hiashi. They were three years older and were held back as their team mate dropped out of the program!" Kushina said, drawing in their attention. "We went to the Hokage tower…"

-x

Kushina pulled on her pyjamas and splashed her face with cold water. It had been a while since _it_ had come to her and every moment it haunted her she hated it. She contemplated asking to sleep with Naru but she knew she could fight it that night.

Squeezing her eyes shut she tried to will it away.

"_Live and grow strong—" _

Holding her clammy hand over her eyes she resisted the urge to scream in fear as dark images flashed pass her eyes. The murder of her clan and the one strange man with purple eyes watching the destruction with glee. The way he batted her aside with a mere glance and how her body had flown into the ground so hard it cracked. Her waking up to... darkness.

-x

"_Foolish girl!" The dark voice rumbled, sending shivers down her spine and brought goosebumps along her skin. The man took a calm step towards her and the ground cracked at his very steps. "You think you can take me on… Ira, Oni no Kami? Even Inari Okami couldn't fight me!"_

"_**Akumo no genzou: Kage nami**__ (Demonic illusion: Shadow wave)" Ira clapped his hands together once before forming unfamiliar hand seals. Dark shadows climbed up his skin and shot towards Kushina, all the while he wasn't even looking at her- instead watching the destruction of her home. _

_No longer frozen in fear, Kushina let out a scream as she surveyed her escape routes. Tauntingly, the shadows eyed her through grey slits and she narrowed her eyes. _

_**There's no way I'll escape at this rate. I'll need **_his _**help. **_

_In a micro-second her body combusted in flames and her face became nothing more than feral slitted slots and her mouth was held in a roar. The ground shook with a tremendous roar and the ground cracked with the force that she kicked off from._

_**I won't be able to beat him but if Nagato-nii and Karin-nee come maybe… just maybe we can escape!**_

_With renewed vigour, Kushina kicked off from the ground and launched herself at Ira. Kushina lashed out a Kyuubi-enhanced arm and swung her claws at Ira. Ira side-stepped the red-head and looked at her with a calculating expression. "So you're this far in the transformation?" He mused, curious._

"_Let's test how much power the demon gives you!" Ira barked out, slouching into a relaxed stance. He dodged her attack easily, sliding out of her grasp easily. Ira looked to the side for a split-second and Kushina used it to her advantage. _

_Swinging her foot backwards, she kicked Ira in the side and dashed after his flying body. Raring her claws backwards to end him she stopped suddenly. _

_Because instead of the masked-man was Nagato weakly holding his hand up to stop her and Karin clutching her back. _

"_You monster!" Karin yelled, backing up as Kushina drilled her clawed hands into Nagato's stomach. _

_Fighting back a scream, Kushina dropped her hand and draped her shaking body over the rapidly cooling Uzumaki boy. Kushina sobbed and cried to the skies when the light left his eyes. _

"_I wish I never met you and became your sister!" Karin gargled out, resisting the urge to puke._

_At that, Kushina froze. Saying nothing, she bowed her head, hiding the motion of biting her lip. Bringing her chakra to the surface she yelled out, "Kai!"_

_The world shattered and she found herself in the same position she was before she had kicked off to fight Ira._

"_YOU BASTARD!" Kushina growled, dashing after the man. _

_Ira smirked, batting away her hands without any effort, not even wincing as a couple burn marks marred his skin before disappearing with a sizzle. "So you have some skill with Genjutsu, ne?"_

"_Uzumaki Jutsu: Kaze no Kama (Uzumaki Jutsu: Wind scythe)!" Kushina yelled, crossing her hands into the Ryuu (dragon) hand sign as her hands were coated blue with chakra. From her chakra formed a large scythe, easily several times her size, in her hands and she dropped down into the Uzumaki style to fight an opponent that just became a hundred times more dangerous. She swung the scythe towards him with all her strength and a large wind wave followed. _

_Ira narrowed his eyes. Leaping to the right he dashed towards her. "Taijutsu." He said and with that little warning, he launched his fists towards her. _

_Kushina could do little more than take the attack and she flew a long distance before landing on the floor in a heap. Shakily, she stood up and brought her hands up to block the aggressive onslaught on her._

_Kushina flipped over his hands which had been aiming for her head and she dropped low to swipe his legs but he merely jumped away. _

"_How disappointing." Ira said with fake concern and sadness although inwardly he was disappointed. "Since you were able to do Kaze no Kama I had overestimated you."_

_Suddenly, an image appeared next to Ira before forming a body heavily wrapped woman in bandages only covered in simple shinobi trousers and plain black flak jacket with a single orange eye peeking out. "U-sama says that you must finish quicker. We leave in two minutes." _

"_Hai," Ira said, waving the figure off as it left in an almost childish manner. When the figure left, Ira's eyes narrowed in seriousness. "I'm sorry to end this but all things must come to an end.. __**Ketsueki Funkako (Blood Crater)**__!"_

_Kushina watched with morbid fascination as a cut from Ira's hand dripped onto the floor and a pin falling to the ground was heard as from the ground an unearthly creature rose. A figure resembling a little child was bathed in blood and had a sword sticking out of its stomach. _

"_Each person killed by my sword—" he said, drawing his katakana "—Owari becomes my summon whether they like it or not. The only people who can escape this are those bearing the rinnegan." _

_The little child ripped the sword in their stomach out and raised it to their palm, lovingly caressing it. "I'm sorry," it whispered and Kushina gasped in shock as it appeared in front of her eyes in a microsecond. The child raised the bloody sword above its head and began a downwards striking movement and Kushina closed her eyes, awaiting her death._

_There was no dark abyss but there was a small gargle of blood. _

_**Is it mine?**_

_But it wasn't. Kushina opened her eyes and saw two figures not much taller than her protecting her with open arms and small smiles. Kushina's dry tears became wet when she noticed who was protecting her._

"_Nii-chan. Nee-chan!" Kushina collapsed to the ground, her body shaking with sobs as she cried her heart out unable to do more than catch their falling bodies._

"_Live and grow strong—" Nagato gargled, blood rising in his throat. Karin continued his sentence "—We love you! Never forget that.."_

_Her world froze and her face contorted into an expression of full loathing. _

"_**YO**__U_'RE D**EA**_**D**__!" Kushina let out a guttural growl as she furiously attempted to hurt the man who killed her family. This man—no this _ANIMAL _murdered her clan and destroyed her hopes and futures. _

_Just as Kushina swung her claws into his face, shredding his left eye Ira's body became like a ghost as his body was transported to ten meteres away. _

"_You bitch!" He screamed out, clutching his left eye. To numb the pain, he tore his eye out and chucked it on the floor. _

"_**Kyojin!**__" He barked out and the ground cracked as his body became covered in shadows. The clouds darkened over and he dashed towards her. _

_Making a slapping movement, her body followed and was chucked into the ground nearby. "You'll be yet another sacrifice for my swo—No, better yet!—" He yelled, his mask shattering enough for his haunting grey eyes to shine through "—You can join your family!"_

_All Kushina remembered were piercing Grey eyes as her world blacked out. _


	15. Chapter 15 - Yau

**AN: Hey! This is a pretty long chapter, actually, and will focus on one character in particular. I posted what is below just to give you all an idea of where this story is plot wise and who the focus' will be of the arc. *****IMPORTANT* YAU is NOT an OC *IMPORTANT***

* * *

**CHAPTER:**

15/_

**PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko (KakaNaru)

Minato and Kushina (MinaKushi)

Obito and Rin

**(Further suggestions can be posted in the review boxes)**

**PAIRINGS (CURRENT ARC):**

**PROGRESS WITH PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko: Eventual. _Small _snippets of _something_ blooming

Minato and Kushina: Fiancés

Obito and Rin: -

**PROGRESS WITH STORY:**

Not even halfway; about 1/5 done with the main plot **not** including side-chapters.

**ARCS: **

CHAPTERS One to Fourteenn: ARC 1: _The art of knowledge_

CHAPTER Fifteen: ARC 1.5:_ An Orphan among freaks_

CHAPTER Sixteen: ARC 1.5: _An Orphan among freaks _

**CURRENT CHAPTER: **Chapter fifteenn: An Orphan called Yau

**EXPECTED UPDATES:**

_CHAPTER 16: Sometime during OCTOBER, most likely around the 15-20__th_

* * *

_Unknown location_

_SEY500 (Shinobi Evolution Year 500)_

Yau (_Yah-oo)_, a self-named Orphan from as long as she could remember, stumbled from the punch thrown at her. Yau staggered backwards, clutching her torso and wincing when she continued to bear the assault. Lifting her hands from her torso, the familiar burning of tears were brought to her eyes when she saw her fingers coated in blood. Yet, again, her 'village' tried to manipulate her.

She regretted telling them about her power. This village she had hastily trekked to had been all sunshines and smile up until the point she told them about her power. Then, their smiles became tinted with malicious intent. Yau didn't know why or how, but from when she was young, she was able to detect the emotions from those around her. It made her feel like a freak. She was different from the children in her village.

She hated the fact that her village had such a high reputation. She would have understood the abuse if this village had a bad reputation or a bad standing, but it didn't. It was written in the books as a village where you could live your life there in peace. Her village was neutral in war, never had shinobi's enter unless it was urgent and thus had no attacks on their village.

Yau was drawn from her thoughts at the stinging pain in her eye. So they had chosen a new part to abuse. Closing her eyes as tightly as possible, she relished the darkness in one of her eyes. Forced to grow up in a world as sick as this one, she was used to the torture, to the abuse… to her own confines.

_Maybe they'll finish me off this time_ Yau thought morbidly, relishing the pain rushing through her veins as she was one step closer to death. _In my dreams _she thought darkly, ignoring how her body tumbled and staggered with the punches and assault. _They still need my powers…_

She refused to call them a bloodline. If she did, it would link her with the shinobi's that existed in this world. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to remember the monstrous power that she could possess if she wanted to. To become like the shinobi's who had taken her family away from her. She could still remember those beautiful red locks falling to the floor; it was the only memory she could remember as a baby. And to make it worse… her father had been the one to kill her mother and move onto Yau herself. If it wasn't for the lone nice villager in her village who had saved her…

_There's one good thing about this village I guess _Yau thought bitterly. Being brought back to the scene in front of her, she regretted it as the pain returned full-force. All across her body was cuts littered on them, her eyes were swollen and clenched close in pain. All though her body was in a disgustingly-bad state she refused to cry. She refused to show them her weakness.

"So the _freak_ has _graced _us with her consciousness?" One of her attackers taunted, relishing the gasp of pain as they kicked the young girl in her sides. "You don't deserve one, you freak!"

"Mari," A second voice said sternly but Yau knew better. This person didn't stop the attacker for her sake but for their own. "Don't be so jealous. But… you can have your turn after me."

This second voice invaded her personal privacy, peering into her face with dark grey eyes rimmed with gold. "Hmm," the person said, the voice a low rumble of a male's. "So power _can _belong in the weakest of people." He commented and Yau shivered at how the voice picked apart her defences.

"Fuck you!" Yau snarled, striking her hand out as fast as lightning. "What do you _freaks_—"she spat, repeating their words "—want now? Come to test your luck with me?!"

The man batted her hands to the side. "No," He ignored Mari's startled gasp. "I've come to ask you if you'd join me." He stood up and held a hand out to her.

Yau considered batting it away but she refrained from doing so. "No," she spat with disgust. Inwardly however, she was considering it. She had little to lose. But she couldn't leave _now_… not when she was so _close._

"Abandon your plan," The man spoke calmly, leaning against the wall of the rutty alley they were in. "It won't succeed. I'll give you twenty-four hours. Meet me here at quarter past midnight, if you don't come within two minutes I'll leave."

The man turned around and was gone before Yau could even reach out.

"I don't know what Kise-kun was talking about," Mari said, acting unshaken from his proposal but was hoping he was joking on the inside. She flipped her hair behind her shoulders, "but if he _was _… I'll have to remove the competition."

Mari rolled up her sleeves, sneering at the red-head. She dipped her hands into her kunai pouch, which was attached to a black skirt and rested underneath a dark red jacket, and pulled out a kunai. She held it up to her eyes, black ones glinting with anger. Mari dropped into a low stance and circled her 'enemy'.

"What?" Yau said, confused but not naïve. She had people out to kill her before; all for selfish reasons. From trying to collect the bounty on her head from her survival as a baby to because they wanted to relish her blood on their fingers. Yau sensed the dangerous prowess from this girl and dropped into a basic stance from the red light district her special one had taught her. "I want nothing to do with you!" She sneered, pulling out a senbon from her pocket.

Mari laughed sickingly. "_This _is what Kise-kun wants? If it wasn't for your Bloodline he'd have probably given away your location to the villagers. I'd love to do the same but I want to teach you a lesson about trying to steal Kise-kun from me!"

Mari launched herself at Yau, cackling. Mari delivered a roundhouse kick, aiming for her stomach, but Yau ducked under her leg, attempting to punch Mari in the stomach. She wasn't expecting Mari to shift her weight into her other leg. Gaining the advantage, Mari swung her foot as Yau's face and grinned when Yau went flying. "Pathetic," she spat, strolling towards Yau.

"I'd love to kill you but Kis—"

Mari stopped grinning devilishly when Yau moved. Instead of a grin was a silent scream as Yau plunged the senbon into her stomach.

Kicking the still body away from her, Yau plucked up Mari's dropped Kunai and stabbed it between Mari's eyes.

Seconds later, Yau was hunched over in the alley way hacking her food out of her stomach. Her first kill… Yau wiped her mouth with her red sleeve from her patched rag-like top.

_It was to defend myself, _Yau thought, turning pale at the dead body that was bleeding heavily. Bending over, Yau picked up the two weapons from Mari. _I would like to say I'm sorry but I'm not._

_Alley, Unknown village _

_SEY501_

_January 1__st_

_It's cold _Yau thought, forcing herself to continue walking despite the glare's of the village surrounding her. Their eye's burned holes into her skull and a couple dared to get in her way, wondering if the _freak _would lash out. Instead, she swerved past them; using skills that she had developed during her life time here.

"I thought you'd never come," The man, supposedly dubbed Kise, voiced in amusement.

"Mari's dead." Yau said bluntly, never moving her hand from on top of her kunai pouch. She knew she was no match for this man, the sheer power radiating of him was enough testimony. "We can go."

"Such a shame," Kise sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets. Yau narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the shadow of the man. Sighing, she came to the conclusion that it was either a ninja thing or that he was wearing a cloak.

"Can we leave now?" Yau pressured. She knew that _they _would be looking for her and soon. When it came to her, they had her down on airtight security. It was a miracle that she escaped the orphanage; though she guessed it wasn't that hard this night considering the vandalism in her small room. "They will start looking soon."

"There's no need to rush," Kise said flippantly but Yau could sense the stiffening of his muscles. "We'll Henge into a couple no-names and slip out of the village. Simple enough?"

Yau nodded, seemingly content with his reply but inwardly she was doubting the success. She'd calculated the escape routes more times than she could count and in a couple minutes the five minutes it took to shift duties would be over.

"Can you keep up?" Kise questioned

"I'll see, I've never seen you in action have I?" She snipped back, hating the cocky look on his face.

Yau took a look at Kise as he stepped out of the dark. Kise had dirty-blonde hair styled into moderate spikes and cloudy grey eyes rimmed with gold. He wore a dark cloak covering the rest of his body but Yau could see his shinobi sandals which were dyed black and a bit of ninja tape taping down his navy shinobi trousers. Yau then took a look at herself, ideas for her henge formulating in her mind. She was lucky they decided not to fight their way out of the village because currently the only thing that she had refined and mastered was the choppy Taijutsu; she currently knew no Ninjutsu besides the Henge. Frowning at the rags decorating her body she decided that if she was going to go with this man, who sent chills down her spine, she would request new clothing.

Kise's lips didn't even move as he casted the Henge over the two. Kise had now aged drastically and had light grey hair and oval-shaped honey-brown eyes. He wore a long trenchcoat and simple clothing beneath. While Kise had aged, Yau became younger and was now four or five years old with light brown hair and green eyes. Her rags then shifted to a long sundress with a jacket.

"Not bad," Yau shrugged, feeling oddly out of place next to this man, supposedly posing as his daughter. The thought of being related to this man made her feel uncomfortable.

"I'd rather take the roofs but we can't risk it," Kise said, sighing.

Yau looked at Kise as he hunched his back and got into the role of an old man and she did the same, lifting her feet slightly so it looked like she was tiredly bouncing on the balls of her feet and forced her face to light up with excitement but slightly dull with tiredness.

-x

When the gates started coming into view, Yau wiped the scowl of her face and forced a smile once again. She began falling into role and tugged on Kise's clothing. It felt weird to once again feel the fabric of new clothing.

"Jiji," She forced her voice out of the husky and gravelly voice she had into a high-pitched energetic one. "When will we get back to Kaa-san?"

Kise was about to reply when someone halted them at the gate. "Halt all movement!" The guard barked out.

"Hai?" Kise turned to the guard and Yau watched as in a simple narrowing of the eyes, the guard went from confident and cocky to nervous. "What do you need?"

"Please show me your visiting pass." The guard said, holding his hands out. Yau sighed in relief as she placed her fake pass into his hands. It was one she made this morning in one of the dingy bars.

"Oh, here it is," Kise said, 'accidently' nudging Yau and Yau followed the indication and pouted. Inwardly however, she was fretting. Kise didn't have one, did he? That was what the nudge meant didn't it?

"Here you go." Kise said, passing over a tattered piece of plastic.

Taking a nervous glance at the duo, the guard nodded and moved to the side, pushing open the gates.

"How did you do it?" Yau asked, raising a now brown eyebrow as they travelled down a worn path.

"Do what?"

"Trick him into thinking that was a real identification slip?" Yau said, glancing at the rutty paper in his hands as she stuffed her own into her pocket. She may need it later.

"Oh that?" Kise said, raising an eyebrow, "Well… Lesson one: Forgery. All Ninja's are good forgers and can make some of the best fake documents that is why the Kage's all use a seal that only they can use. Not even the Kage's most loyal advisors can use it."

Yau nodded, taking interest in the grass beneath her feet. She'd spent all her life practically on the street and if not on the street then in a filthy orphanage that trashed her room when she refused to use her bloodline; it'd been a surprise the leader of the village hadn't already tortured her. Yau guessed she was lucky in that case. Because of those experiences, she'd learnt to not trust anyone; not with your emotions nor your life. She had hardened her heart from day two and never trusted anyone besides her special one but she was probably dead now… because of her.

As they made their way into the forest with hurried steps, the world blurred in Yau's eyes and the quiet tranquillity became pounding and painfully loud as she glanced back once more at the confinement that used to be her hellhole.

She lowered her eyes once and picked up her speed.

* * *

_Nadeshikogakure _

_SEY502(*)_

Yau didn't like the fact that Sora had entered this village. It had been two years with Sora she realised. From the moment when he left the village, with her in tow, to discovering his real name and her second kill to now. She'd grown very close with Sora and saw him like the older brother she never had. Although it had been very hard travelling with him and being forced to kill to survive she fought it and through that they grew close.

So, this was why she was worried. She didn't want Sora to be caught as a male in a village where the leader hated males with a passion. Even Sora seemed a little worried but Yau was smarter than that. Through living her life alone until she was eight she knew that he had another reason to why he was nervous; maybe he had something to do with her hatred. She didn't doubt it; although she loved him dearly he was downright terrifying when angry or provoked and was a very powerful ninja and could probably beat the leader without much trouble.

"Nee-san," Yau said, clutching the man's hand. Sora had now henged into the image of a woman with long dark purple hair to his waist with a voluptuous figure and dark brown eyes and he wore a dark purple top with black kunoichi trousers taped down along with sandals. Sora was under a stronger jutsu than the usual Henge; it was bordering S-class and very little people would have been able to see through it. "Can we go book a room in the hotel. I'm tired!" Yau pretend-whined.

Another thing she had learned through living on the streets and being a _freak_. She didn't get the right to whine like other children and couldn't rely on anyone besides herself and sometimes Sora. She knew how to wipe her tears away and plough forwards; from the moment she had taken one last look at her old 'home' she had learnt that lingering in the past and not doing things with your own power made you just as weak and unhelpful as those who killed without reason.

"Sure!" Yau frowned. She hated acting like the little children she saw running about. She was eight and she had seen death, poverty, abuse and loneliness; she shouldn't have to be forced to pretend she lived a lifestyle unlike her actual one. Couldn't Kami give her that alone? Or was she, yet again, not worth the trouble?

-x

"Be good and don't get lost, Imouto (1)" 'Ai' said waving at Yau's disappearing features.

When Sora, once Kise, rounded past the corner Yau's smile disappeared. Yau didn't like deceiving Sora and Sora would most likely catch on but she couldn't bother Sora with her problems. Sora wasn't her… wasn't a _freak_ like her and thus didn't have to pretend to understand one.

Yau tucked her hands into her pockets, stuffing her earphones into her ears which were attached to an MP3(2) which was one of the latest technology devices that had come out. Seeing as they had travelled past Yukigakure an Takigakure when it came out, they were able to snatch some for relatively cheap prices.

Yau couldn't help but be in awe of the village surrounding her. It was beautiful. Every building seemed to sparkle like glass and were built out of brick, which were rather new advancements to the nation's defences and creations. Unlike in other villages, like Iwagakure—which they had visited not too long ago, and never planned on visiting again—the streets weren't bustling with loud, obnoxious merchants but was, while loud, a moderate loud and all had a sophisticated air to them. Unlike in most villages where the males were merchants and venders while the women worked in convenience stores and the such in Nadeshikogakure, the women did all the roles as very few men were in Nadeshikogakure and even then it was a mystery to how they managed to integrate there. They were known as the 'Lucky Bastards' by the perverted male sex because they lived in a village full of girls who all were beautiful both inside and out.

Yau began to enjoy the scenery but was disturbed when a loud cry for help rang through the air. While the village definitely had skilled kunoichi, this was in the alleyways where barely anyone went as the poverty count was extremely low so little to no people lived there.

"Leave me alone –ttebane!" A loud yell came.

Yau pondered on whether or not she should help the girl (Seeing as it was Nadeshikogakure it was most likely a girl) and she considered not as she couldn't just go a play hero; saving everyone left and right. In the end, however, she just decided to help.

"You heard the girl," Yau said coolly, resting against one of the sewer pipes as though she was cockily measuring her brawn against the girls. Inside however, she calculated the chances of her winning. With the training of Sora, she was most likely what most ninja's called Jounin level but she didn't know how strong these two were. She chucked a piece of rock up and down into her palm in rapid movement. "Leave her _alone_."

"Heh," One of the bullies smirked. "Think some no-body tramp like you can beat _us_. We're Nadeshikogakure's smartest of the generation and while we may look like we're only smart we pack a punch!"

Yau glanced boredly at the first girl. "Name?" She questioned raising a 'brown' eyebrow. She kept the same henge from those years ago although now she wore a dark blue turtleneck with a plain dark green flak jacket and a black skirt with black skin-tight shorts with mesh tights and black shinobi sandals. _Some smart kunoichi's they are _Yau thought, rolling her eyes. They just gave away their advantages to the enemy.

The first one's eyes glinted. She had bright green eyes and pastel blue hair which was tied back into a small ponytail with bangs framing her face. She wore a dark blue Chinese dress with no design with dark blue shorts underneath and black shinobi sandals. She wore a jade-green hair pin in her hair that was displayed proudly. "Is it not polite for the asker to give their name first?"

The second one nodded, seemingly interested although she kept glancing at their victim. The second one had maroon-brown hair with highlights of red and an oval-shaped face with several freckles dotted on her cheeks and nose. She had cloudy-blue eyes and lips painted with purple lipstick. She wore the kunoichi-seduction version of the shinobi sandals (they had heels which packed a punch and straps up to mid-calf) and black fish-net stockings. She wore black cycle shorts underneath a short black skirt and a red v-neck top with a black flack jacket.

The third one remained quiet. She had black hair that went to her shoulders and was held back by a pair of burgundy glasses. She had piercing coal black eyes and a small scar across her eyelids. She wore a dark red top with a lot of collar space (like practically all of Sasuke's tops) and black cargo pants along with black shinobi sandals. In her hands was a book with no title.

"Yes," Yau said, "but neither is bullying a girl into whatever you want."

The first one rolled her eyes, nonetheless responding to Yau's question. "Uta. Uta Hiami."

Uta indicated her hands at the second one. "Juelan Iroi."

"Kiko," Uta said, pointing her hands at the third one.

"And you speak of politeness," Yau taunted, "You introduced them without giving them a chance to speak."

"And for your own benefit," Uta snapped back, checking her nails once before sighing heavily. "Destroy her, Kiko."

Kiko nodded once, tucking her book into her pockets before bringing her hands to her mouth. Clasping her hands over each other, she brought her two index fingers to her mouth and silence hung over the scene.

Yau rolled her eyes in annoyance although she still wondered why Uta hadn't mentioned what Kiko's surname was. Back to the matter at hand, the three must have been stupid if they had thought that she would just stand there and let them attack her. Flashing through hands seals, she cupped her hand to her mouth and yelled out, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu(3)!"

Kiko jumped to the side, avoiding the fireball but dropping her hands. Uta dropped to the floor, dragging Jue with her but not without her injuries. The side of Jue's face was marred with the fire.

"How could you do that?! All I wanted was some revenge!" Jue wailed, tears of pain and anger trailing down her face. Kicking Kiko and Uta aside, discovering the boss behind this, she held up Jue by her hair.

"How could you call yourself Kunoichi's when all you do is pick on others? It doesn't matter if this girl is a weak civilian or a mass-murdering ninja. You only go with the intent to hurt for three reasons," Yau barked out. "One, your Kage or leader must have ordered it with proof that it was them. Two, this person can only be interrogated or hurt without warrant or permission if they are endangering the mission or hurting innocent bystanders and three If It's morally right. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that what you three were doing were for one of those reasons?"

When they didn't reply she chucked Jue on the floor so hard she was knocked out.

"Why?" Came the victim for the first time since she spoke with the verbal tick. She had wild red hair that reached the middle of her back and piercing violet eyes that had a touch of blue. She wore a yellow battle kimono with a blue obi and fish net top underneath.

"Why I defended you?" Yau spoke, turning her back the red-head. For reasons she couldn't understand, seeing the girl brought back the memories of her mother falling with those beautiful red locks. "It's only natura—"

"Bullshit," the girl said boldly, a sharp look coming into her eyes. She stalked up to Yau. "I can sense the Henge –ttebane. There's no fooling me." The girl's eyes softened. "I can see that look of sadness in your eyes."

Yau batted her hands away. "I save you and you thank me like this." On the inside however, Yau was freaking out. This girl had punched through defences even Sora couldn't breach.

"What's your name?" Yau blurted out, cursing herself when she did so.

"Isn't it polite to give your name first?" The girl teased, repeating Uta's words.

"I don't have one. Yau is the name I gave myself but I hate it." It's true, Yau did hate her name. Back then, it gave her the confidence she needed; being the only person who had the name she messily slapped together. She only kept her name because Sora said he liked it.

The girl decided to leave the question hanging and softly spoke instead, glancing down at the ground from where she had touched the girl's hand to stop her from walking away. "You can see _it _can't you? He's going to die soon."

Yau froze, craning her head to look at the little girl. Here was a girl, probably one or two years younger who saw the same nightmares she did. "Yes," Yau said softly, a tear slipping from her eyes against her wishes. "I know Sora will die."

"Come with me," the girl said and Yau looked up.

"Go with you?"

"Yes," the girl assured.

"Not now," Yau said, resisting the urge to allow her body to stumble. Not even a couple days ago, when she first got the vision, she was thinking about where she'd go without Sora around; yapping in her ears all day about nonsense. She would really miss him. He had such a bright personality and was kind-hearted and was willing to go the ends of the earth for her.

"We can meet in five days… after the vision happens.2

Yau nodded, still shocked about the proposition.

"What was your name?" Yau said, swallowing.

"Kushina. Uzumaki Kushina."

"I'd like to introduce myself but I have no name." Yau said.

"Then I'll give you one –ttebane." Kushina said, looking dead serious.

"Karin Uzumaki."

"Karin, huh?" Yau—Karin said to herself.

"I like it."

* * *

**Imouto – little sister**

**Music Player - Haha, I couldn't resist. I love music devices and music themselves.**

*** - They left on the first day of SEY501 so the rest of the year counted as one year**

**ALSO: I have yet to see the SEY idea in anyone else's fanfiction so until there's proof that someone has brought this out before me, SEY idea belongs to me and if you want to use it just ask; I'll probably say yes :')**

**A very important question. Tell me honestly please, I don't mind if your answer is no, but did you like Y/K? I took a different intake on her personality as seeing as I probably won't go into the fourth shinobi war in this fanfiction I wanted to mention these two as I really like them but I didn't want to have to create OC's besides S/K. Please review and I'll try to answer them if they have a question or a vote! Some of you guys would have seen Y/K's story excessively long but for some reason I really wanted to give her a background along with Nagato. **


	16. Chapter 16 - A Trio

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update; I usually write about half a thousand words every day but I sometimes skip doing this because of schoolwork and I apologise for that. I don't know how long this length will be but I'm hoping for in-between 3000 and 8000. One thing I want to clear and get out of the way is the fact that what is happening between the previous chapter and this one has happened years ago. **

**I realised after typing this that Nagato would be much too old, Karin too, considering that Kushina is about 18 now (that would making Nagato like 30 and Karin like 29) So ignore that age gaps in this chapter, I'll edit it if I find it, but Kushina was 8 when she found Nagato and Karin and they were the same age of 10 not thirteen and the jump to now (Naruko's new timeline) is about ten years later so Kushina is about 18 and the two are about 20. Sorry about that confusing explination**

**DISCLAIMER****: This goes for the whole fanfiction; Naruto does not belong to me! The only thing that belongs to me are any characters created by my own thought with no relation to existing characters or people and the plot itself. The whole Naruto cast, including Naruko, belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I make no profit out of writing this and the only thing I can benefit from is knowing that readers enjoy my story.**

**RoseAnn: Yes, Karin is not Kushina's biological sister; I had thought it'd be more interesting that way. As for the second thing, you'll just have to wait and find out ;) **

**Giggle123: Okay, so a couple years ago I would have been in your position asking authors for a longer chapter but ever since I've started writing this fanfiction I've realised just how much work goes into a chapter. 1 minute of reading material is about thirty minutes of writing for me. The last chapter took about six hours to write not including the time it took to plan the idea for the chapter. I understand that about 2'000 words per week/two weeks is little compared to others who do about 10'000 each chapter but there is little I can do about that. I just hope you understand where I'm coming from. I will try to make my chapters a bit longer, however. Also, I do not feel that the last chapter was short at all; in fact it was over 5000 words! **

**Guest: I am deeply sorry I failed to satisfy you at the fact that I'm the only writer **_**ever **_**to have change things in the Naruto fanfiction universe. Note my sarcasm.**

**TheBeauty: Thank you :) :]**

**KaixDecayx: I'm glad you feel that way xD. I was hoping that no-one would dislike Karin or that chapter as a whole as it took me a long time to draft together. Seriously, making up a whole background for a character who's portrayed as a useless fangirl who I don't like as a fangirl is hard. I wanted Karin to be stronger mentally and emotionally in this story so that she isn't a whiny fangirl. **

**the white wolf Haruka: Thanks as always :)**

**PS: I'm thinking about adding the fan art for this fanfiction but I'll first have to set up my photocopier because I want to end up doing it like a line-art and filling it in. I've already sketched the drawing of the cover; nothing special but I'm not going to spoil it because I **_**may **_**change the design a bit :P**

**Note: This is further into the future than the last chapter. **

***IMPORTANT*: Karin met Sora before the Uzushio attack and before she met Kushina**

**DATES TO REMEMBER:**

**Uzushio attack – SEY507 (End December) – SEY508 (First day of SEY508)**

**CHAPTER:**

16/_

**PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY)****:**

Kakashi and Naruko (KakaNaru)

Minato and Kushina (MinaKushi)

Obito and Rin

**(Further suggestions can be posted in the review boxes)**

**PAIRINGS (CURRENT ARC):**

**PROGRESS WITH PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko: Eventual. _Small_snippets

Minato and Kushina: Fiancés

Obito and Rin: Currently close friends

**PROGRESS WITH STORY:**

Not even halfway; about 1/5 done with the main plot **not** including side-chapters.

**ARCS:**

CHAPTERS One to Fourteenn: ARC 1: _The art of knowledge_

CHAPTER Fifteen – Sixteen : ARC 1.5:_An Orphan among freaks_

**CURRENT CHAPTER****:**Chapter sixteen: An Orphan called Nagato

**EXPECTED UPDATES:**

_CHAPTER 17: Expected between 30__th__ October and 10__th__ November_

* * *

-x

Unknown Location

SEY509, September XX

_One year after Uzushio attack_

A figure blurred through the surrounding forest, the only indication someone or something was there was the fact that the animals all chose to shy away from this person. The body structure was that of a boy, no older than twelve, speeding through the forest with tremendous speeds. Right behind the boy was the largest bear probably sighted in the forest, hence the animals all fleeing or avoiding the boy.

The boy was obviously extremely smart and talented as he effortlessly dodged the wild swings of the bear, who was probably a wild bear with some sense of offensive movements, while keeping his sights ahead of him. Suddenly, the boy stopped and dropped to the branch beneath his feet, watching as the bear flew yards in front of him.

Quickly hopping to his feet, the boy with lightning fast movements dipped his hands into his pocket pulling out a **Kibaku Fuda **(Explosive tag) with the kanji for explosion and fire scrawled neatly onto the slip. The boy, in less than a split second, channelled chakra into the tag – evident by the soft blue glow of the tag – before he chucked it into the direction of the bear.

In less than a millisecond, the small tap of the **Kibaku Fuda **making contact rang through the silent area. All around the preteen and the bear were animals littered here and there, taking the risk of watching the fight below. For all they knew, this could have been a trick to ambush them; this is why the forest was so dangerous.

Mori no Nuke Doubutsu (1) The forest of rogue animals. One of the deadliest forests their; standing equivalent to the Shi no Mori (Forest of Death). It was practically suicide to travel through this shortcut to Amegakure.

Though it was suicide to go through it, if a shinobi was strong enough it was actually safer for them to go through the deadly forest than attempt to navigate your way to Ame which was in a location known by few. Added to danger of travelling outside the forest was that, while in the forest the temperature never dropped below -10 and never exceeded +40, the weather outside the forest towards Amegakure no Sato was much like Uzushiogakure, which is why outsiders never visited these two powerful villages.

Whereas Uzushio detected strangers and those with malicious intent with the whirlpools that protected their villagers and their chakra shields crafted from Fuuinjutsu, Amegakure protected their villagers and detected intruders with Amegakure's own jutsu which surrounded their village in a lake of water that had exploding tags in the bottom; from birth the children's chakra were infused into the tag so that unless malicious intent was detected with the intent of killing or harming anyone, their leader's lizard summons would appear and try and stop the person from entering but if they persisted the summons informed their leader of what was going on.

The silence was broken when the tag went off, destroying anything too near to the target. The boy, however, knew that the bear wasn't dead. If it was, this bear would have been a disappointment to the forest and usually the bears were the royalty of the forest along with its mates, family and friends and the few other species that were considered royal.

It was truly amazing how much these animals took after humans. Still, only very few animals had progressed to the point where they could speak the human language; currently, most of the animals here had a general language between the animals and other living things, a language between their race and for the royal families and most influential and old families a language between the heir's.

"**Katon: Karyuudan**(Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet)**(1)!**" The boy yelled, his hands moulding their way into the Tora (Tiger) seal. He then took a deep breath inwards and when he expelled it outwards, a stream of fire was in its place rapidly heading for the bear. The bear in question merely shrugged the exploding tag on, the only sign of effect was the large burn mark on its shoulder and charged at him.

With a large roar, the bear was knocked backwards as the stream of fire connected with its chest, thus burning away at the fur there. Without waiting a second, he dipped his hands into his pockets and pulled out a piece of a blank scroll, some ink and a brush. Noticing the bear picking itself up, the boy made quick work of scratching something onto the parchment and slapping it onto the Kunai he held.

The boy's feet glowed green for a second as the boy dashed off at the bear, a grim smile set in place of his usually stoic features. Quickly closing the distance between him and the bear, his body image blurred as he brought his legs up into a ninety degree angle and drilled them into the bear with enough force to send the bear, which was once in the air, to the floor.

Not willing to waste a second, the boy pulled out the Kunai with the seal on it and slashed at the bear's neck. Moments later, the bear's head rolled off its body and tumbled on the ground.

A heavy silence penetrated the air and the animals watched, all tensed with action and adrenaline, as the stoic boy sealed the body, excluding the head, into the scroll.

"Halt" One animal spoke up, a panther with midnight blue fur. "What business do you have hear? Invading our home and challenging our Prince?"

If the boy was surprised, he didn't show it. "I had no intention of going after him," The boy gestured to his scroll and the head on the floor, "He stole my prey and stole my treasures,"

"That does not excuse your killing of our Prince"

"Oh?" The boy raised an eyebrow, strangely-coloured eyes narrowing in annoyance. "And the rules of this forest, created by your first king, state that if an animal with affiliations to this village plunders and attacks a human or different species for no apparent reason then all crimes can be excused, does it not?"

The panther seemed genuinely shocked. "Boy, what is your name? We will allow you to go free of charges but not without this. Mark our words, we'll remember your name boy. You have freed us all of a tyrannical prince."

"Nagato. Uzumaki Nagato."

-x

* * *

Later that night, Nagato had finally breached the foliage of the forest, covered in dirt and sweat. For the safety of his group, he had denied the offer of the Panther helping him get out and he was here now, barely awake with tiredness.

"Tenshi?" Nagato's voice rang out in the quiet cave where their base was situated. Hearing no reply, Nagato's hand flashed for his favourite Kunai.

"At peace, Nagato-kun." A gentle and quiet voice rang out and from the clearing stepped out a girl, roughly the same age as Nagato, with purple-blue hair that stopped at her shoulder and amber-coloured eyes. She wore a mesh top with a black turtle neck and black ninja trousers taped down at the ankle followed by dyed-black shinobi sandals which where nearly all covered by a large black cloak. In her hair was a small origami piece folded into a bird (2).

Nagato's eyes narrowed. "Password?"

"The crane of freedom takes wings and sore but the feathers can be weighed down by the gravity of entrapment." Konan recited, eyes not even wavering under the intense gaze of Nagato.

Nagato nodded and dropped his Kunai into his pouch, walking past Konan gently as he ventured into the deeper part of the cave, Konan right behind him. "Konan-chan," Nagato said, glancing upwards at the small drips of water from the cave walls.

_We must be close to Ame again_ Nagato mused, keeping an ear open for Konan's response.

"Hai, Nagato-kun?" Konan said, stuffing her hands into the baggy arm space from the cloak. Her calculative amber eyes narrowed at the cuts littering Nagato's skin and she increased her pace until she was standing side by side with him.

"Where is Yahiko?" Nagato said, eyes scanning the small changes of the cave. From the time they had set up base here, just a couple days ago, to now Yahiko and Konan had only moved the items they possessed and made quick work of sealing up any too wide cracks in the cave. "I would have expected him to be in here resting, he claimed he was tired which is the reason why we've set up camp."

Konan nodded once more, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes; noticing the slight limp in his stride. "Yahiko-kun has gone out to the nearest stream to get some water for our guest."

"Guest?" Nagato raised an eyebrow, fully looking at Konan for the first time since he arrived. "What do you mean by guest?"

"We found him," Konan said cryptically. "On the border of our cave defences. He wasn't injured but seemed to have gone through a great deal of emotional loss judging by his fluctuating chakra and erect posture."

It was times like this Nagato was both thankful and regretfully ungrateful for Konan's kindness and budding medical skills. If worst came to worst, Nagato would use _it_.

"Enough about this man's emotional trauma," Nagato said, authority seeping into his voice and Konan obeyed. "The real problem is if this man will be trouble."

"I believe that if he has any intent to harm us he will," at Nagato's troubled look Konan coughed a bit into her hand, "It's my duty as a medic nin—"

"Konan," Nagato stressed. "You've seen many losses through being a medic nin; just as many lives you've saved you've possibly lost. But are you willing to die for a man who may just be the reason why you shall not wake tomorrow?"

Konan's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned out. "Yes, I am."

"Very well then," Nagato sighed, light purple eyes now staring at the cave walls as the dim light at the end of the cave tunnel grew bigger and bigger. In a matter of moments, the two were in the main quarters of the cave and Konan indicated the man who was unconscious on the floor.

"I've given him enough drugs for him to be asleep for long enough for Yahiko to get back and for us to rest. He should not wake until sun rise. I've also restricted him." Konan stated.

"How so?" Call Nagato paranoid and wish for him to relax but he had seen many a people lose their lives because they were overly confident in abilities they had not. He couldn't take the chance… not again.

"I've used a couple of your sealing tags and I used my **Orizuruton:****Kami no Kusari **(Crane Release: Chains of Divinity) to contain him. I believe even an A-rank ninja would have trouble breaking down the Fuuinjutsu alone." Konan remarked, the crane in her hair fluttering at the further activation of chakra to the Kusari (chains).

"I suppose that will be able to hold them down for now at least." Nagato said.

"Hai, Nagato-kun." Konan said, quickly standing up and moving over to their medical kit. "Nagato-kun, why are you so injured?"

"I was fighting a bear for the scroll you lost." At that, Nagato weakly chucked a scroll with rimmed green edges at Konan (a medical scroll).

"Oh!" Konan said, obviously startled as she caught the scroll in her hands effortlessly. "You didn't have to go through so much trouble for me."

"No worries. Plus, I got us something to eat. We were running low on rations and I was hoping we could save the ration bars for another time." Nagato said, wincing as Konan applied pressure to the bandage she was wrapping onto his arm.

"Yahiko-kun will be pleased," Konan commented offhandedly.

"I guess he will" Nagato hummed, his eyelids fluttering close as he yawned a bit.

"Go to sleep Nagato-kun," Konan said softly, rising from her crouched position. "Yahiko shouldn't be back for a while, anyway and our guest shouldn't be awake until sunrise."

"Hai," Nagato said, his eyes closing in tiredness.

-x

* * *

"Tadaima!" Konan heard a loud yell and when she turned her head, acknowledging the person, Yahiko groaned.

"Konan! You're so mean!" Yahiko whined, immediately moving over to wash his hands with the water leaking from the caves before he wiped his hands with a nearby towel. Yahiko, though his hands were clean, his whole clothing was caked in mud and his hair was damp with the rain but nonetheless he had a bright expression.

Konan frowned, turning her back to Yahiko as she resumed cutting the potatoes lied out in front of her. As the only one who could cook – not necessarily true as Nagato was a decent cook – well she took up the mantle rather gleefully. When she was younger her mother… Konan shook her head, sighing. "I am merely returning to the food I could have burnt if I had paid you more attention. I am deeply sorry acknowledgement isn't enough for you."

A decently-volume yet amused chuckle rang through the room as Yahiko's face lit up with realisation and then his jaw dropped. The chuckle was from none other than their guest. "Ha! You should see your face!" He chuckled, clutching his stomach with amusement as tears leaked out of the corner of his eyes.

Konan, this time, smiled her small-smile that was barely noticeable. "I'm glad you appreciate my sarcasm, stranger-san."

The man wiped the tears from his eyes, straightening his back to its full, intimidating, height. His blonde hair still bounced with movement when he nodded his head to the duo. "I'm Sora. No last name." To prove his point, he shrugged uncaringly.

Yahiko nodded, his once playful eyes becoming narrowed and serious. Seeing as Nagato was asleep and seemingly unaware of surroundings if this guy was strong enough to make his way so far through the elemental countries he must have been strong. "Why were you found outside the cave, unconscious and with high distress levels?"

Sora bowed his head, clenching his fists. "I'm impressed; to be able to detect emotions Is a high sensor skill."

Yahiko replied. "I'm aware—"

Before Yahiko could reveal even one of their secrets, Konan cut in with narrowed eyes. "You're dodging the question."

"I don't have to answer to your questions." Sora bit out, turning his head away from the group.

Yahiko's eyes narrowed. "And we don't have to keep you alive past this moment."

Sora narrowed his eyes, eyebrows scrunched together with fury. Before he could bite out a word a person made themselves known.

"Speak. I'm not sure if you've realised or not but we have you chained down, chakra-less besides the limited amount used to help your heart brain and tongue function and weak on suppressant medicine. Escape and this delaying-game you're trying to play isn't going to work." Nagato said coldly, now in a position of standing up while leaning against the cave walls with a shuriken peeking out of his pocket. In a second, Nagato's hand flashed and Sora found himself pinned down with four shuriken nailing his tattered clothes to the ground.

Sora sighed. "Only If you remove the Shuriken." Despite Konan and Yahiko's hesitant glances towards Nagato the red-head nodded and removed them hastily. "Fine… My name is Sora. Sora Yamiko and I'm a ninja who is aged eighteen, my ID rank of the previous village I belonged to was ID7649371 until I was written down M.I.A on a A-class mission to Yukagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in Hot Water)."

Yahiko raised an orange eyebrow. "Yukagakure? Why were you in Yukagakure when it's on the opposite continental side of Amegakure or even Konoha, Iwa or Suna?"

Before Sora could answer Konan cut in. "That doesn't make sense. That meant you were found here for other reasons so why tell us a lie when we can end your life for impudence. Are you not aware that many a ninjas have short tempers?"

Sora chuckled. "I am aware."

Nagato took a seat, raising a red eyebrow at the man in front of them. "Continue."

The tense silence was broken when a small simmer emerged from the pot and Konan excused herself from the group.

"When I was sixteen, I encountered an orphan in the village of Shimogakure after I fled from my last known location after spotting my village's top ninjas after me. Before asking, I belonged to a village called Nakushita no Sato (The Village of the Lost) named after the majority of the island was swallowed up by a devasating tsunami. I wasn't planning on taking anyone the day after I arrived in Shimogakure, just a couple ration bars and some more weapons when I noticed that the village was practically a ghost town."

Sora then took a breath, avoiding the suspicious eyes of the three teens in front of him. It was horrific to him how intimidating these three could be especially the red-haired one. He was quiet yet deadly and stated plainly that he had no escape instead of trying to play it off as if he could escape. He was blunt and to the point… just like Yau…

"I then met the girl who I'd take care of for the next two years… until something happened."

Yahiko leaned in a bit. "How old was she? How could she just get up and go with you?"

Konan and Nagato nodded. Nagato tucked his hands into his pockets, his eyes not leaving Sora even as Konan got up to finish of her preparations for dinner. It would seem that there would be one less use for food that day and one more mouth to feed. Unless this man could be trusted, they'd run out of food even quicker than before…

Sora sighed, resting his palm to his face in tiredness. Even Yahiko could see the tiredness in his eyes. Bags were deeply sunken in his face and his face as a whole was hollow along with the pale and dry skin. Not to mention that his clothes were torn and in a terrible state; torn everywhere and mud splattered along with a few drops of blood scattered all over them. Even the weapons they collected seemed rusted and in bad condition.

Sora chuckled lowly, being more a remorseful and melancholic than cheerful. "She didn't. She put up a fight and even took out a follower of mine."

Yahiko's eyebrows furrowed. "Follower?"

Sora smiled sadly still remembering Yau. "A tool you could say. I unwillingly took her because a woman I owed favours to cashed them in. She wasn't of great use; average for a child shinobi I guess."

Yahiko nodded, questions flooding his mind but he decided to ask one more before being quiet. "Also, it's a girl? I got the indication of a boy."

Sora glanced once at Yahiko, then Konan in thanks as she passed him a small bowl of soup as he bowed his head once more, muttering a quiet 'Itadakimasu' (thank you for the food). He ate slowly, though finishing it gradually. "No, Yau was a girl. She named herself though. I remember finding her that day, bloodied and bruised but still fighting on. She was so brave…"

This time, Nagato stepped up. "Was?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sora looked down, his blond hair shielding his eyes. "She was kidnapped and there was nothing I could do about it. She was taken while I was subdued and knocked unconscious. I woke up in the hospital and the nurses and doctors had no knowledge of anyone coming in with me."

"What did she look like?" Konan said, seated in between Nagato and Yahiko on the small logs on the floor. "Maybe we've come across her?"

"I doubt it." Sora said bitterly. "She had the most piercing red eyes and the wildest red hair I've seen—"

Nagato's world froze. There were only one person with red eyes and red hair he knew that would have been brave enough to stand up against a man clearly stronger and older than her. It didn't help that _she _had never told them of her background.

"Karin…" Nagato breathed out lowly, clutching the log tightly as he fought for balance. His hands then scrambled for his head, tearing off the hood that covered his face nearly completely. His wild red hair fell in front of his face and rage was wiped across his usually blank face.

"So you're like her, aren't you?" Sora said, staring down the boy in front of him with hard wolf-grey eyes.

"_Silence_!" Nagato commanded and Sora's mouth closed with a familiar feeling of fear running down his spine. "I will not let the man who let my _sister_… my… loved one die!"

Sora bowed his head, tears slipping from his eyes and splatting on the ground. He clenched his tied fists, ignoring the sting he felt from them and raised his head angrily. "You think you know her?!"

Nagato growled. "I _do_! She was my sister; my everything! I _loved _her! It was hard enough when I thought she died once!"

Konan raised her voice at that moment, commanding silence between them all. "There is nothing we can do about that!" She said strictly, her voice biting and sharp. "Sora-san, I'm sorry but we must leave you—"

Without a glance, Yahiko threw a shuriken at Sora and cut at the binds binding his body to the ground.

_BOOM!_

The four ninjas present jumped out of the way of an exploding tag going of right beneath them. From the explosion, the log and part of the cave caved in and debris flew everywhere.

"What do you want?!" Yahiko yelled, throwing his arm out to stop anyone from charging forwards. It was times like this were Yahiko showed that _he_ was the leader of the group and that at the end of the day, while not the strongest of the three, he was the most neutral based with no biased opinions and had a façade of a stupid orangette. "Show yourself!"

From the darkness emerged a man, wrapped head to toe in black bandages. His body was lithe and thin but it could have been the smoke clouding his body. His voice was deep and dark. With a blur of movement, before Nagato could even tense, the man flashed and Sora's body followed.

"What?!" Yahiko yelled with wide eyes watching as a struggling Sora was held still with a Kunai pointed at his neck. "What do you want?!"

"Him." The man said quietly, pointing to the bound man.

Nagato's eyes flashed for a moment and his Rinnegan was revealed. "Drop him or I'll be forced to kil you."

The man chuckled. "You could never."

Suddenly he was gone and before Yahiko could even blink the man was behind him. Reaching for a Shuriken or _anything_ the man flashed back to his old position, holding a now limp and unconscious Sora. "If you dare try to follow me," his glinting dead-black eyes scanned them all, "I'll personally come back and destroy you."

The three felt a shiver down their spines and the man uttered one word before their worlds blacked out. The only person to have seen the man leave was Nagato who tried to resist with his Rinnegan.

Alas, he was greeted with the dark abyss he expected.

"_Kage Kame: Nemasu_."

* * *

**(1) Katon: Karyuudan; used by Ebisu, Aoba and Hiruzen; first appears in **_**Naruto **_**episode 69**

**(2) I do realise that in canon she doesn't have a bird**

**(3) This is a completely NEW Release I have made up for Konan because I feel that five or six jutsu isn't enough for Konan so you will know if it's a jutsu I have made for her or not. ORIZUTON COMPLETLEY belongs to me as I've yet to see someone with the same release as me who has created it before I have. Therefore If it wants to be used, the author should ask me for permission. ****Orizuton: Kami no ****Kusari literally translates to ****Crane Origami Release: Chains of Divine Paper****. I used Crane because Crane is often translated as peace and freedom and Origami and paper is literally just that; a piece of expression and freedom.**

**(4) Kage Kami: Nemasu = Shadow God: Slumber. Original (as in belonging to me) Jutsu. **

**Our special red-head Nagato; while he is related to Kushina and Karin through clan name, none of them are related by enough blood to be legally written down as siblings unless they signed a family sheet stating so. So Karin has Uzumaki blood in her from her mother who was an Uzumaki though from the 'branch' clan and not the main clan (They are not like the Hyuuga's however. The royal clan consists of Mito, Kushina, Kushina's mother and Naruko, later characters may be added to this) and Nagato is related the same way as Karin except both his parents are Uzumaki's but civilian Uzumaki's which were rare as the Uzumaki family were mainly Ninja's. His mother, though registered as a civilian, was a Kunoichi with Chuunin-level skills.**

**Gomenasai guys! I couldn't help but include some Nagato/Karin in there! It's a cool concept to me at least! Please leave some feedback; I mean 5000 words for a chapter is pretty good considering how lazy I am! **

**Random NOTE: I'm pretty glad to say that this sentence will bring this chapter to 5000 words.**


	17. Chapter 17 - A New Outlook

**CHAPTER:**

17/35(expected)

**PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko (KakaNaru)

Minato and Kushina (MinaKushi)

Nagato/Karin

Obito and Rin

**(Further suggestions can be posted in the review boxes)**

**PAIRINGS (CURRENT ARC):**

Kakashi and Naruko

Minato and Kushina

Obito and Rin

**PROGRESS WITH PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko: Eventual. _Small _snippets

Minato and Kushina: Fiancés

Obito and Rin: Currently close friends

Nagato and Karin: -

**PROGRESS WITH STORY:**

About 1/5 done with the main plot

**ARCS:**

CHAPTERS One to Fourteenn: ARC 1: _The art of knowledge_

CHAPTER Fifteen – Sixteen : ARC 1.5:_An Orphan among freaks_

_CHAPTER Seventeen: ARC 2: __Disarray_

**CURRENT CHAPTER: **Chapter seventeen: A new Shinobi

**EXPECTED UPDATES:**

_CHAPTER 18: Expected between the 15__th__ November and 25__th__ November_

_**A/N: Finally, we're out of the side-chapters with Karin and Nagato, I do hope that you liked that addition I certainly did. The third shinobi war is approaching so the fun and games will be taken away. This chapter and the next one will definitely indicate this. **_

_**IMPORTANT: **__Regarding my fanfiction _When it Rains _which I may change to _An Uchiha's Meddling _or _Amegafuru to ki _(which means When It Rains in Japanese, apparently) my target for reviews regarding each chapter is 5-10 reviews before I update. I'm glad that I usually get 5 reviews per chapter before I've even drafted the next chapter but I'd be forever thankful if you'd take the time to review my chapters because I put so much time and effort into them, often forgoing lunch and dinner to finish my chapters, and having my hands feel like they're going to wilt from tiredness and pain because I've been determined to update on time and within my limit so please leave a review, if even just a 'good chapter' and if you plan to leave constructive criticism because my fanfiction definitely needs a lot of improvement and I've realised but it's too late to go back and change it without changing the whole story, but writing 'decent chapter' 'exceeds my expectations' sound a lot ruder than you may have intended so please word your reviews carefully. _

_Although I try to be as fair as possible and not squeeze out reviews but I have my limits; knowing that I've spent hours on a chapter and I get a single review when I have about 2'000+ views per chapter is ridiculous. I have recently discussed with my friends and a select few readers about me going on hiatus for a bit. My target review for this fanfiction by the end of the fanfiction is 200 reviews and I hope I can hit that. I will probably __**not **__go on hiatus but I am considering it._

_**Sorry for that long rant about reviews and such but regarding Naruko, how would you like to see her personality grow? By that I mean, would you like her to grow up really innocent and cute, even during and after the war, innocent but still know when to be serious, someone with a façade, really bitchy etc? Right now, I'm rooting for a quieter and mellow Naruko who's more or less a pacifist like Itachi and doesn't believe in war and stupid conflict. So to the public she's quiet and deadly but with her precious people, she's still fun-loving but quieter and more neutral in her opinions and thoughts. **_

_**Also how would you like a bit of angst in this story? Just wondering…**_

_Konohagakure no Sato_

_September 10th SEY510_

Through the crack of dawn, a small and lithe body could be barely spotted as it leaped on top of rooftops with deadly silence, barely making a sound as the person seemed to have no trouble with speeding over the rooftops. Minutes later, however, the small person came to a halt and was hunched over with laboured breaths as they took a seat of the roofs of one of the higher buildings. Through the blissful silence the person watched as the sun rose quietly, almost unnoticeably through the darkness of winter.

The person's body was illuminated by the sun's soft rays as the lightly tanned skin glowed an almost ethereal bronze. The sunshine-kissed hair that rested upon the crown of the small girl's head flowed from her scalp to the higher parts of her back and was loosely tied into twintails.

_Beautiful _Naruko thought, blue eyes wide with appreciation and a relaxed awe

_**I agree **_Kurami said softly, her fox _henged _body shimmering with movement as she made a move to sit next to the not-so-unusually quiet Naruko. _**When was the last time we could enjoy the quietness and serenity of a sunset?**_

Not even taking her eyes of the sunset, Naruko ran a hand through her soft locks. _Not since…. I'm glad Kami gave me a chance once more. _

With a small smile, Naruto slowly got up and stretched once more before glancing down at Kurami's relaxed position on the roof tiles. "I'm going to train Kura-chan, Are you coming?"

"_**Sure**_."

-x-

When Kakashi arrived at his group's training grounds, fifteen minutes early, he didn't expect anyone to be there let alone Naruko who often tried to squeeze out as much sleep as possible; even once having Kushina drag her across town as Naruko tugged on her shoes and tamed her wild spiky hair.

Kakashi decided against making his presence obviously known but considering her superior, something his admitted to grudgingly, senses she had probably sensed him from a mile away. Kakashi plopped himself down on the faintly-worn down, shown by the fact that grass had been flattened and stopped growing in this small area, position where he always sat in team meeting.

With a faintly amused smirk on his lips, he rested his chin on his folded hands and analysed Naruko's movement.

Kakashi knew that all the members of his team, despite having excellent teamwork and ultimately developing a style that worked with all of them, they all had their own styles which worked for _them_.

For example, Obito's style relied on strength as his body stature was widest of the four Genin and he was more muscled, though not overly so, and contained more muscle mass than the others. Obito's body, thus, worked well with Ninjutsu and Taijutsu that revolved around the Dragon and Tiger such as the **Katon: Karyūdan **(1) and using his unique Taijutsu which managed to utilise both Ninjutsu and Taijutsu frighteningly so. Eventually, Kushina had come across a Taijutsu form called **Tsuchi Ken **(Earth fist) which involved him channelling chakra into his fists and strikes to make them stronger and made his strikes heavy-hitters.

Rin's body, however, adopted genetics from her mother who was known more as a medic than a doctor. Coupled with the fact that Rin had a fondness with animals and hated eaten them, her body was weaker and thus more fragile than Obito but still her body strength and speed was higher than the average for Genin her age and a bit older. Because of her body being more fragile, and thus not being able to take many hard strikes, Kushina had drilled a Taijutsu form called **Kumo Odori **(Cloud dance) which utilised light and airy steps in a difficult formation that made Rin look like she was dancing at fast speeds. Though it was a useful form it was hard to learn as this form was mainly for medic nin's but rarely did they ever bother to learn it, despite having the body form for it, as they were rarely front-liners like what Rin aspired to be.

Kakashi, himself, had to compromise with an all-rounder form. As his father was a grown man with developed muscles and had already had his growth spurt and had no more muscle mass to put on or lose his Father could easily choose between strength, strategy, stealth, speed or force. Kakashi couldn't though, as he wasn't in his prime like his Father or a specialist who had pursued their specialty to mastery, like the Yondaime and Kushina-sensei, so he had to find an all-rounder. After a while, both him and Kushina had found a style that suited him well. It was called the **Ōkami Tsume** (Wolf Claw).

Though Kakashi was strong and light on his feet like Obito and Rin using speed and strength just didn't _click_ with him and he soon found out that he was suited better for stealth and strategy such as using a **Kawirimi** (Body replacement technique) to get behind you enemy and to excecute them with Ninjutsu or Taijutsu that wasn't flashy or loud or attention grabbing like how Obito's style could be described as sometimes or even Rin's that was quiet and airy but sometimes over the top with added stances that weren't necessary (he chalked it up to Kushina and Naruko being naturally exuberant people and them rubbing off on Rin…).

Taking a glance at Naruko who was _still _sparring with her clone and her nin-cat who could apparently shape-shift of something like that, Kakashi was reminded of Naruko's form. Naruko's form was one derived purely of speed and her Ninjutsu (as she was an aspiring Ninjutsu specialist). To Kakashi at least, it wasn't surprising considering she was the sister of the Yondaime and related to Kushina, who was known for her stealth and speed. According to Kushina, of the four Genin's it would be hardest to teach Naruko her chosen style, the **Raijin Issairi **(Lightning step).

Speaking of the devil, Kakashi's head snapped upwards when Naruko had plopped herself down next to him. "Finally finished?" Kakashi teased with his usual blank look which would have been rather amusing and just a tad bit scary if not for Naruko's exhaustion.

Noticing this, Kakashi scoffed. "Seriously?" He chided, raising a silver eyebrow. "You were supposed to have a light warm-up for today's spars and not work yourself to death."

Naruko laughed, though to her demise it was more a bordering high-pitched giggle than a laugh. She even exaggerated her amusement by clutching her stomach in hilarity. "Y-You sound…"

Kakashi, though increasingly annoyed, further raised his silver eyebrow with a curious look. "I sound…?"

"Y-You sound like a Mother Hen!" Naruko giggled, not slapping her hand over her mouth like most would have done and instead bellowing out her laugh.

Almost fondly, Kakashi looked his best friend in the eye for the first time that day and was awe-struck. Right in front of his eyes was probably the most beautiful scene he had seen in his life. Like his mother, from the faint memories he remembered of her, the surrounding area came alight when Naruko laughed. Her sunshine-covered head was dipped backwards, the sun shining on her and revealing small coppery streaks buried deep within the nest of her hair. Her bright cerulean eyes were closed this time and a small smile sat upon her face, her sun-kissed skin illuminated further from the sunlight.

Kakashi allowed a small smile to light up his face.

Nothing could ruin this day.

"Oh!" Came a voice from far behind them and the duo turned around to find out who spoke and were greeted with a waving Obito and Rin, Kushina trailing behind them. "Yo! Always punctual I see, _Naruko,_ Kakashi!"

Naruko's face flamed red and she shot to her feet, shaking her fists as her hair parted into nine tails in a split second, red chakra surrounding her form. "_Don't _bring that up, _Obito-chan_!"

Obito groaned. "Ugh. Stop reminding me.."

Suddenly smug, Naruko grinned with a foxy smile forever stitched onto her face. "I think, instead, you should have said something along the lines of… I don't know; Touché maybe?"

"Smart-ass," Obito grumbled.

"_What?_"

"Nothing!"

"You two are something else." Rin commented, slapping a hand over her mouth in amusement as she tried in vain to mask her amusement. "You two are the village idiots, I swear."

"Nu uh." Naruko disagreed, making a 'tsk' sound with her teeth. "_He _is not me."

"Okay, okay," Kushina said, ruffling the two heads. She grinned down at them. "You're both idiots. _Our_ idiots."

"I can agree with that." Obito grumbled out finally, a sour look still on his face as he crossed his arms.

Naruko hummed, deciding to listen and not talk as Rin discussed the new theory the Hospital had made on the addition of artificial limbs. _At that moment, Obito looked like… Saske? Sasu? Saiku? S-Sasuke…._

_**Don't fret Kit**_ Kurami said, taking her place on Naruko's shoulders. _**I don't know who you're talking about**_ She lied easily. It'd be harder to explain that the memory loss was happening faster than anticipated. Much faster…

Before Naruko could retort, Kushina clapped her hands. "Okay, today we'll be doing a skill evaluation, requested by our Hokage-sama. First, we'll jump straight into spars as we've all warmed up—"

At Naruko's questioning look Kushina answered. "Obito, Rin and I had a nice, long jog around Konoha a couple times."

Naruko could hear a quiet grumble of. "50 laps isn't a couple…" and Rin's tired "I agree…" but wisely chose to keep her mouth closed for both the sake of the duo and herself.

"And I'm guessing you and Kakashi warmed up?" Kushina stated more than questioned. Although when she came Kakashi and she were sat she wouldn't put it behind the Hatake to have trained this morning, though by himself as his father was apparently on a three-month long mission. She'd have to bring it up with Minato about allowing him to stay over in the meanwhile…

"Kushina-sensei?" Naruko questioned, tilting her head to the side and her two blonde pigtails following suit. When Naruko had become Genin, she decided that she'd stick to numerous copies of one outfit like in her old timeline and not change until she'd become Chuunin. After countless hours, she'd decided to wear clothes that honoured a couple people from her past timeline, except for Kakashi as he was the only one _alive_.

She'd decided on a black skin-tight top like Sai's (2) that ended before her navel but, unlike Sai's which showed his stomach, she had a black fishnet mesh top underneath that had ¾ length sleeves with an ANBU-style chest plate above both of them in a merlot (a very deep red) shade and along with the top she wore a pair of gloves with plates of metal on the palm for added strength like Jiraiya's. On her legs, she wore black shorts like Sakura and a marlot-red skirt that had slits on the side to allow movement with ninja mesh underneath it that stopped short at her ankle. On her feet she wore a pair of black boots and the space between the end of her mesh leggings and the start of her boots were wrapped with ninja tape. On her right hip were her pouches and her Konoha hitai-ate was tied to her forehead, the familiar pressure reminding her of _Iruka_'s headband. Her fuinjutsu tags and blank scroll pieces were concealed on a seal on the tip of her index fingers.

The rest of the team, too, had changed her outfits from their Academy days.

Kakashi had swapped out his old uniform for a navy-blue turtleneck with dark orange lining and an ANBU chest plate secured firmly over it. On his hands, like Naruko, he wore a pair of Shinobi gloves with a metal disc on the palm to add to his punches. On his legs, he wore navy-blue trimmed with burnt orange Shinobi pants that were taped down with some medical (3) tape. On his feet her wore what looked like the typical Shinobi sandals but in the heel of them were two hidden Kunai in the right sole and a dozen Senbon as he planned to learn more about it, as it held a certain level of stealth, in the left and the straps of the sandals were imbedded with metal. On his left hip were his Kunai and Shuriken pouch but almost unnoticeably on his right hip was a small pouch filled with Senbon.

Obito decided to go more for a hard-hitting yet light material as he was still growing and most didn't wanted him to strain his muscles. Obito wore a fishnet mesh shirt that ended at his waist and was ¼ length on the arms with the rest of his arms wrapped with ninja tape. On his elbows and the parallel side were a pair of arm guards that were padded around the corner so it didn't hurt Obito but was heavy and dense enough to hurt if he hit someone with it and could block Kunai attacks. With the metal used it was strong enough to not shatter from the full strength of a mid-high Chuunin with their Kunai or Shuriken. Over his torso and shoulders he wore a flak jacket passed down from his Father and on his legs he had the usual Shinobi pants with ninja tape both on his thigh and to tape down his trousers. On his feet he wore combat boots instead of sandals and the toe was lined with metal. Though his clothes _looked _like they were purely for offensive it was actually quite light. He decided to wear his Konoha headband on his forehead and it replaced his old orange goggles, just like his Mother.

Rin decided to go for something that would be light and felt as if it was barely there like her old outfit as long and flowing clothes would only get in the way. She had her hitai-ate holding away the bangs that threatened to frame her forehead. As she wasn't from a clan like the Uchiha or a clan that held a council seat she decided that she didn't need to conceal any features so she wore no mask like Kakashi did. She wore a battle Kimono that was deep purple in colour to match her triangle-shaped marks on her cheeks. The kimono had two slits on the sides to allow movement but beneath the kimono she wore a tight black spandex suit. On her wrists, because she needed to build up some strength, she wore gravity seals that Kushina had created, assisted by Naruko, and her arm from the elbow was wrapped with ninja tape. On her legs she wore mesh ninja leggings like Naruko underneath black form-fitting trousers. On her feet she wore ninja sandals and her kunai pouch was on her left hip.

Kushina decided that she'd get back into her training as for the last couple months she and Minato had been discussing ways they could improve the security of the village. Occupied with renewing the Konoha barrier that her fellow clan member and one of the first world-known Kunoichi's, Uzumaki Mito, had set up once marrying Hashirama. All the months she had spent cooped up in the Uzumaki library, a collection of what was left of the Uzumaki destruction, had made her muscles weaken and her body become frailer rather than the lithe yet slightly muscled body she used to have.

Her determination had only sailed higher when she discovered Naruko's heritage and thus her Nindo (Ninja way) to protect those close to her – Obito, Kakashi, Rin, Naruko, the Sandaime, Minato and the village as a whole – had strengthened. Deciding to slightly tweak her fighting style that used to be pure speed and strength she decided to change it as it was no longer compatible and she had noticed over the years that her control had slipped. She then came up with a form, much like the rest of the team as all their forms were original that would complement her lithe form and allow strength to seep through but also make way for her Uzumaki chains. Kushina wore a jet black with scarlet red outlining and collared turtleneck with arm guards over the elbow. On her shoulders resting lightly yet reassuringly was her Jounin flak jacket which had many pockets, several being filled with things such as fuinjutsu scrolls. On her legs she wore the Jounin shinobi pants that were taped down and shinobi sandals.

"We'll first start with Obito vs. Kakashi as they are more likely to fare well. The winner will fight Rin and the looser will fight Naruko. While Obito and Kakashi fight I'll get a clone to monitor yours." Kushina said and crossed her hands into the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu sign before summoning a three clones. One to monitor each person besides Kakashi as she'd watch Kakashi personally. A reason behind her madness was the theory that Kakashi may have a bloodline of his own…

**Obito vs. Kakashi**

Obito and Kakashi bowed to each other, shaking hands briefly before they both jumped back three steps.

"Iku (go)!"

Wasting no time, Obito crossed his hands into his favourite Jutsu. "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Obito roared, flame bursting out of his mouth as it formed two medium-large sized flame balls and sped towards Kakashi, enhanced with chakra to follow Kakashi's movement.

That was a move Kushina had taught the group, and not him alone. It was very useful though taxing as not only did you have to continue to channel chakra into your Jutsu but also you had to have a small shield of chakra curved around the ball to direct it's movement.

Kakashi almost smiled. It seemed that in the few months Obito had learnt much. Gone was the extremely brash and loud and naïve boy who thought that having flashy powerful Jutsu were more important than the simple useful ones. Now was a boy whose first thought was how to defend, attack and how to end the match as quick as possible thus the taxing Jutsu bonus.

Kakashi quickly noticed that the ball would follow his movement and so he knew he'd have to get rid of it personally. Quickly, he racked his minds through his release. Though Kushina hadn't taught them their releases yet, he had an inkling that he was Lightning affinity primarily with a small affinity for water; a deadly and useful combo. Kakashi cursed when he released that the ball was closing in on him as he chose not to waste energy and decided to summon the quickest Jutsu.

"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-style wall)!" Though this was considered a B-rank Jutsu, Kakashi pumped a little so that it was enough to form a 6ft wall but little enough for him to have a over half his reserves.

"Shit!" Obito cursed. He had used at least a third of his chakra portion by longing out the length and time of the fire balls let alone adding the swerve of chakra for movement. "If only I had my Sharingan I could predict his moves."

In this aspect, Obito was unlike his Uchiha kin _again_. Not only did he wear his positive emotions on his sleeve but by many Uchiha he was considered brash and loud and had nil in the skill department. What they didn't know, however, was the fact that for the last two years Obito had been using the older scrolls in the Uchiha library to defend himself. If not for the scrolls he had stumbled upon that day he'd still think that the Sharingan was invincible and that you were supposed to abuse your eye and rely on it constantly – now Obito knew about the Sharingan's weakness' he mainly wanted the Sharingan because he wanted to improve his predicting power.

_Flashback_

_Obito, though hurt and sad on the inside, kept the smile that was practically sown onto his face whenever he was near most Uchiha. While he wore his heart on his sleeve, like many Uchiha he hid his truest and deepest feelings._

"_I don't know why he's still a shinobi." His 'grandfather' muttered, to swept up in his regretful thoughts to notice Obito's presence. _

_Uchiha Taira, Obito's grandmother (4) shook her head. In her prime no Uchiha would have thrown away their kin like trash and would have ridiculed them for not having the Sharingan yet. If her first husband, Uchiha Madara, was around he'd have been less than please. While her husband had soon abandoned his village she knew better. She knew what lead him to leave and that Hashirama had only gotten in his way, thus the fight. Uchiha Taira had immediately taken the mantle of being Obito's legal guardian. As she was his mother's mother she had tried to take adoption of him from the moment his parents died but the Elders had prevented her from it, stating that she was too old to handle a troublemaker like him and it didn't help that they still held hatred at her for loving Uchiha Madara._

_While she was _

"_I disagree. Soon he'll bloo—"_

_Taira clutched her stinging cheek, dreaded tears of pain welling up in her eyes. "Wha-?"_

"_Don't speak about that abomination!" Shima yelled, an angry and furious emotion welling up inside him. For the sake of continuing the Uchiha lineage he had been forcibly married to Taira. Taira was the worst wife a man could have. Not only did she want to be a _kunoichi _a job he saw as one a man should have alone, but she refused to settle down as a housewife and was now a sales clark and that… that man Uchiha Madara; she still loved him and whenever someone spoke about him a light would come to her eyes and she'd spring into conversation about him. Like Madara, she was formidable in her prime and that's why he was shipped off to her. _

_It was bad enough he was forcibly married to his wife but the cut stung deeper when said wife didn't even acknowledge your presence. _

"_Say another word in his defence—" Shima's eyes bled red, the three-pupil Sharingan coming to life. "—and I'll kill the two of you. You don't want a repeat of last time do you?"_

_Taira bowed her head but her eyes; her eyes gleamed with a rebellion. "H-Hai"_

_Obito staggered backwards, his hands flying to his mouth as tears fell from his eyes. His Jiji, the one he thought loved him, had been abusing his wife. He knew that Taira didn't love her husband, as she had told him fondly of Madara one too many times for him to catch one, but still…_

_Obito cursed when he fell backwards over a couple of shinobi sandals on the floor. His eyes widened when the sliding doors flung open and a furious and disgusted Shima stepped out. Then his hands shook when he realised that this _stranger _in front of him was the shadowy figure he had seen convincing the majority of the Uchihas that Obito would never unlock the Sharingan because he was related to Taira who had married the cursed Uchiha Madara._

"_YOU!" Shima roared, looking left and right for any nearby Uchihas or Obito supporters. "You stupid little boy! Any self-respecting shinobi would have looked me in the eye!"_

"_Look at me-not at my eyes you piece of scum!" Shima yelled, stomping his foot into Obito's side. "I'll kill you!"_

"_No!" Taira yelled, launching her body at Obito. With shaky hands her Mangekyo Sharingan blared to life. "__**Tate**_(5)!"

_Taira's hand glowed blue as a large dome blocked Obito and her off from Shima. Even though it held strong, they all knew it wouldn't for long judging from her shaking hands. _

"_Go!" Shima yelled, dropping to one knee._

_Tears filled his eyes as Obito clambered to his knees, quickly skidding across the floor to run for all his worth._

_After what felt like hours, Obito slumped to the floor his eyes brimmed with tears. His breathing laboured, he panted heavily. His eyes fluttered close but they snapped open when he could hear the quiet mutterings of Shima. _

"_Where is he?" _

_Obviously Taira had put up a fight as Shima was tired. He seemed to want to collapse much like Obito but unlike Obito, who was fuelled with fear, he was fuelled with anger._

_Obito gasped, his eyes clenching shut tightly as he crossed his fingers, praying for the best._

_Suddenly, the wall behind him that he was pressed against, in something he thought was a dead end, gave way and he fell backwards. _

_His eyes widened at the mass of books in front of his eyes. _

_This was his safe haven._

_End Flashback_

Obito's eyes flashed silver for a split moment, only one person noticing it, before Obito sped towards Kakashi. Rearing his fists backwards, he channelled chakra to his fists – a new technique Taira had been teaching him, in secret of course, - and threw a heavy-hitting punch towards Kakashi.

As expected, Kakashi managed to evade the majority of the punch as the chakra process slowed down the hit. He, however, didn't get away unharmed as he was now clutching his shoulder, a very dark bruise marring the skin.

"Stop!" Kushina commanded and the duo immediately jumped away from each other, landing on the grass a couple feet away from each other.

"Good fight." Kushina approved, Naruko's and Rin's fight long over as Kushina herself went to go heal Kakashi and Obito's wounds. "However, Obito I'm not going to question you on where you learnt that but you'll need to work on your speed when using that. If you had gone against a Jounin with that summoning speed you'd have wasted a lot of chakra of a move that wouldn't have worked."

"Kakashi," Kushina said, crossing her arms though not disappointed and more along the lines of frustrated. "I _told _you that when fighting against comrade's focus more on strength and less on speed and stealth. You need to bring up your physical strength. See if you can get some help from Sakumo about that."

"Now, Rin could you review your fight with Naruko please?"

"Hai," Rin smiled, turning to the two boys in the group.

_Naruko and Rin's fight_

"Iku!"

Naruko immediately created a Kage Bunshin and sent it out to scout the nearby area and set up traps. Channelling chakra to her feet, she kicked off and left a small trail of dust in her wake. Pulling out a Kunai, Naruko leapt into the air and stroke downwards on Rin, gaining the advantage as Rin was forcibly pushed to the ground.

Eventually, Rin's hold weakened and Naruko sliced her Kunai against her cheek. As expected however, seeing as Rin was a more strategy shinobi, she had used Kawirimi to replace herself with a pebble behind Naruko. Before Naruko could gain sense of awareness on her chakra signal, Rin flowed into her Taijutsu form and lunged at Naruko with a kunai in hand.

What she didn't expect was for Naruko to burst into smoke and appear behind Rin.

Naruko could almost laugh. In her past life, she could vaguely remember someone doing the same thing with a Nuke nin.

Holding a Kunai to Rin's throat, she locked her right leg around Rin's to stop her from moving and held one hand behind her back to stop her doing any seals unless she knew one-handed seals.

"Yield."

Rin sighed, groaning as she made a forfeit and brushed her bangs away with a small sigh of breath.

"I really should work on my reactive time." Rin mumbled and leapt into the air when Naruko made a sound of agreement from behind her as they walked towards Kakashi and Rin, Kushina already dashing forwards to check how the fight was going as her Kage bunshin hadn't dispelled yet.

"I agree. Also, don't overestimate your skills and underestimate mine," Naruko commented off-handedly, ignoring Rin's half-hearted glare. "You had thought that I had no awareness of you being behind me. I'm a good chakra sensor from my Uzumaki line as Kushina-nee's cousin and your chakra was practically screaming out to me."

Rin nodded, sucking up the information like water to a sponge. She also threw her two cents in. "I think you should work on your use of Kage Bunshin. You made a Kage Bunshin and ended up not even needing it. While you do have impressive chakra levels, I can practically see it despite only being a beginner in Medical Ninjutsu, but every drop counts when it comes to a fight especially one with those of higher rank and skill."

Naruko nodded, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "Yeah, I know. Ever since Kushina-sensei taught me it I've been really wanting to test what I can do with it." She did this so that no-one would question her use of the Nidaime's jutsu from any clan heads or those with banned Jutsu knowledge. She didn't need anyone on her case right now especially when she could sense something foreboding."

_-x_

"See you guys tomorrow for another D-rank," Kushina commented, ignoring their 'tsk's under their breath. She then continued with, "We will soon hit the criteria for a C-rank to B-rank. There are too short supply of C-ranks to do every day and lots of B-ranks, surprisingly, so we are just going to have to do D-ranks for about another two weeks or so."

She didn't mention that they had already done eighty D-ranks when the minimum to get a C-rank was 50. She wanted to train her team so that they were strong enough for anything thrown at them right now.

"Ah," Kushina said as the four in front of her got up, two of them grumbling out quiet words of tiredness and annoyance. "I want to ask you something."

Kushina stuffed her hands into the pockets of her trousers and leant back against the tree behind her. "What do you think of Iwagakure no Sato?" To her, she rarely said Iwa. Iwagakure wasn't in her mind a place you could relax; especially with the arrogant ninja's teeming and spluttering with arrogance and their tempers.

"Eh," Obito said, scratching the back of his head. "I don't really like them that much. They've tried to steal the Sharingan's justu!"

Rin's eyes widened. "Really? When?"

Obito's eyes narrowed, his eyes becoming slightly clouded over. "My mother used to tell me stories about my dad's adventures."

Kakashi saw the uncomfortableness in Obito's eyes and did something he would have never done less than a year ago. "I'm personally neutral to dislike with them. They're arrogant but their Tsuchikage Onoki has strength. He also wields a powerful bloodline that would have been very deadly if he had any children. For that I'm glad he never chose to have a child."

Naruko's eyes became serious, the childish look lost from them as she crossed her arms. "You can't blame them. Yes, most of them are ignorant and arrogant and have a superiority complex against us Konoha nins but they're doing what they can to survive. They kill other shinobi to feed their family and have to bear the knowledge that their victim's family may try to get revenge."

It was moments like this when Naruko's memories of her past life came back in full blast and she remembered how the Ninja nations worked. Peace was not impossible but in this world it seemed like it. The ninja nations teemed with those who weren't happy with their villages and their life and wanted to change it for the worse, whether for themselves or for others.

Naruko spoke from experience. When even Orochimaru marked Sasuke he was doing it for power. Power Orochimaru needed to become stronger and to survive. Without even a fraction of his power, Orochimaru would have fallen long ago. Madara, even, fought for a purpose. He fought to avenge his brothers and kin and fought for his idealism of peace, warped or not. Nagato too, manipulated behind the scenes he was and he didn't know much about the world around him and how peace could really be attained. In a way, however, the villains brought a temporary peace between the nations though Naruko knew it didn't succeed. She was living proof.

Rin, naïve and innocent, knew not of the horrors ninjas had to battle and face through every day. When her mother had started formulating an idea for a dreamless sleep potion, Rin had thought it absurd. Then she was still hanging onto Kakashi's arm and dreaming of a relationship between them. Kushina knew this too. Kushina prayed, however, that when the day came for Rin to experience her first death she'd take it in stride and move on. Obito was her pillar, her team being the bolts that secured it in place, and Rin was his.

"Now that you say it that way," Rin mused, cupping her chin with her hand. "I could never understand more than you must have but... I guess the Shinobi life is harder than thought."

"Yes," Kushina said for the first time in a while. "It is a lot harder than you read in the story books. In the story books the Ninjas always manage to convince the enemy to be good and to change their lifestyles; I will tell you now that this is more likely to not happen than to. More than enough times, you'll be forced to kill or torture your shinobi and this is why I'm going to give you an option."

"Would you like to step out of Shinobi duty?"

The four were shocked. Rin and Obito were horrified, the latter less so, at the horrors a Ninja had to face on a daily occurrence. Kakashi was baffled, he knew of killing and yet to torture… Naruko wanted to seem indifferent, to keep up her bulletproof mask, but she was torn. To kill at such a young age, she wasn't sure If her mind could process it. Her body knew the drills for a painless death, for a quick one, for a slow one and yet her mind still wanted to remain blank and naïve although she wasn't.

"No." The four said in unison. Obito had a grim and determined face. Rin's face was heavy and tired yet a small, forcible, smile was there. Naruko looked troubled, as if worried anyone would drop out. Kakashi's face was stone still.

Kushina smiled.

-x

**(1) Mentioned last chapter xD**

**(2) The second thing I wanted to point out is that Naruko isn't copying her precious people's clothing styles; it's more like she's honouring them and showing them that their still in her hearts and she still remembers them even though soon they won't be her precious people anymore but another person's (as she will be like 18 when they're born)**

**(3) Medical or Ninja tape, they're the same thing. If you're confused, check out Sakura's outfit in Shippuden, it's the white tape around her thighs and Neji used (used *sobs*) it to tape down his trousers. I think their more like bandages as tape on skin would hurt too much. **

**I'm sorry if you all watch the dub but I'm used to the sub so the words I've picked up and remembered are in Japanese. If I can't remember the Japanese equivalent I'll write it in English so my content is rather mixed. **

**(4)she is present in the anime and not the manga. Also, I like to imagine her more youthful looking that she is in canon. So Uchiha hair but with streaks of white. **

**(5) Tate (**_**pronounced: Tah-the**_**) I believe is Japanese for Shield. **

**Would you like to see a short chapter on Taira? I think she's a pretty interesting character and I don't want to just leave her story there. I wanted to continue on and do everything I wanted to do this time in one chapter but it would have seemed very rushed. **


	18. Chapter 18 part 1

**CHAPTER:**

18(1/3)/35(expected)

**PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko (KakaNaru)

Minato and Kushina (MinaKushi)

Nagato/Karin

Obito and Rin

**(Further suggestions can be posted in the review boxes)**

**PAIRINGS (CURRENT ARC):**

Kakashi and Naruko

Minato and Kushina

Obito and Rin

**PROGRESS WITH PAIRINGS (WHOLE STORY):**

Kakashi and Naruko: Eventual

Minato and Kushina: Fiancés

Obito and Rin: Currently close friends

Nagato and Karin: -

**PROGRESS WITH STORY:**

About 1/5 done with the main plot

**ARCS:**

CHAPTERS One to Fourteen: ARC 1: _The art of knowledge_

CHAPTER Fifteen – Sixteen: ARC 1.5:_ An Orphan among freaks_

_CHAPTER Seventeen –: ARC 2: __Disarray _

**CURRENT CHAPTER:** Chapter eighteen: Just around the Corner

**EXPECTED UPDATES:**

(Unknown)

**It's been… a long time, hasn't it?**

**(PS: If you're reading this 1) please leave a review and 2) please go back to the first two chapters as I've re-written them as I'm currently in the process of rewriting my chapters)**

* * *

-x

A tense and thick silence hung over the clans present. Here, for the second time since the first two Shinobi World Wars, the entire Shinobi council was present. Usually, it was a mixture of the Shinobi and Civilian council with the majority going to the Civilian council, them being much more nosy and bothered with trivial affair than major clan heads. Nonetheless, while the clan heads usually weren't present and often had a right hand man or woman to do the job and relay the message. However, the ANBU that had been sent to summon them instead of the usual Chuunin or Jounin immediately piqued their interest.

Piqued further it was when a scroll was handed to them, replaying that the leakage of any information would have each clan head put under surveillance and possible death depending on how wide of a scale. Minato was not taking any precaution this time and could not afford to make any mistakes.

Numerous times over, by both those older and significantly younger than him, he'd been warned of treachery and while he doubted the majority here would act against him, trust was very fragile and while it could be easily destroyed it took a lifetimes to craft.

"Shinboi," Minato spoke with a clear, hard voice. What he'd have to relay at this moment wasn't something anyone here could shake off. How this meeting was taken could determine the outcome of this war. Who knows if messing and changing the past, from Naruko's help, could mess up the future? Only time would tell…

"There's no 'soft' or 'easy' way to relay this… Iwagkure no Sato may be declaring war with us in the foreseeable future."

It was if a pin could be dropped outside the door and it would be heard through the quietness. This was another difference between the Shinobi and Civilian council. Whereas the Civilian council would have burst out in outrage and demand that Shinobi would watch over their families like lap dogs, the Shinobi's knew better and decided against bursting out against the Yondaime.

Unlike the civilians, at least Minato knew the civillians of Naruko's time were like this, where they would doubt him indirectly or directly, the majority if not all of the Shinobi's here could step aside and put behind them past rivalry and all had absolute loyalty in their Hokage regardless of their relationship with them.

"Hokage-sama?" Orochimaru (1) said, raising a deathly pale arm.

Orochimaru was one of the tallest there, standing at 6'' even though he was 5'11 on the rare occasion that he slouched. Orochimaru's face was extremely pale and he had long, black hair tied into a back ponytail with a small band. He wore a navy blue Shinobi top with the Uzumaki symbol on the sides. He also had his Jounin flak over his torso and shoulders, bulging with the amount of things sealed inside. His trousers were the usual trousers taped down and shinobi sandals. Though Orochimaru was not ANBU and was a Jounin, he was the elite of the elite. So much that he and his team, the second-last team 7, were on a whole new level.

Soon, they'd have to be given a new title…

Snapped back into reality, Minato quickly focused back onto a curious though quite aghast Orochimaru. "Hokage-sama, permission to speak?"

A small wry smile creeped up onto Minato's face. At least there were a _few _Shinobi who knew of his strength. But even then they didn't know what Minato had up his sleeves. And even to an extent, _who_ he had… "Yes, permission to speak granted Orochimaru-san,"

Orochimaru frowned, folding his hands beneath his chin. Though his body seemed relaxed Minato and any ANBU could easily tell his body was tensed as if coiled and waiting to attack. "How long have you been aware of this?"

Minato didn't miss a beat though he was impressed with Orochimaru's observation skills. If he hadn't wanted to be a front-line fighter he would have worked very well as an interrogator…

"Approximately six months now."

Many eyebrows rose and a couple spluttered silently but said nothing against their Hokage. Seemingly content, Orochimaru leant back into his chair.

"Hokage-sama? Why were we not notified earlier?" A shinobi belonging to the Aburame clan said, his voice chilling and sending a shiver down a couple people's spine.

"Because I didn't feel the need to." Minato said, cupping his chin. "There was no need for you to. Why? You make think. And regardless of my response you would have replied that you could have trained harder and longer. And this is the point that makes me wonder. If not for war you wouldn't have worked harder to protect your precious ones?"

The shinobi leant backwards, bowing his head slightly. Though he knew it wasn't directed at him this Aburame had known he could have done better.

"We've already began defending Konoha. And this is why these two are here."

In a split second, two bodies blurred into sight and everyone present saw a blonde little girl, her face solemn and downcast and a redhead who wore a similar expression.

The girl slowly lifted the hood of her face, and many Shinobi there had to hold back the urge to gasp. This was the bubbly and bright girl that bounced around everywhere during the Academy days; making ties with everyone regardless of their first impressions of her.

A small shadow was cast over Naruko's eyes, making her seem almost wiser than what she looked. Though many Shinobi present knew that this was true they knew that most people hadn't even seen her talents and based her prodigious talents of the fact that she was Minato Namikaze's sister.

She lifted her hand, pulling a large blue rimmed scroll out from her sleeves. The shinobi present soon recognized this as an A-class scroll. Naruko rolled it out, taping the corners to the edge. She made quick work of angling it so that everyone present would be able to see it, and she cleared her throat looking up into the eyes of the dozens of people there, two or three belonging to each clan.

"This," she said pointing at the A-class ranked scroll. "Is our almost 'checklist'-like plan for success in the war—"

"Yah!" A Shinobi, belonging from one of the lesser known clans, yelled out and interrupted Naruko. "Why should we—"

"You see," Naruko drawled out lazily, shooting the man a lazy yet cold glare. "No-one likes to be interrupted and judging by the anger practically rolling of you, you should also learn to conceal your emotions better, you don't like to be ignored either. Glad we're on the same page. Now, the next time you interrupt me let's just say… you're going to have a **bad **time(2)…"

The man gulped and sat down, nodding feverishly and paling when the clan head of the small clan shot him a murderous look.

"So you may be thinking; 'why would this silly checklist work out?' and 'Iwagakure is unpredictable how would you know their very move?" Naruko drawled out, her voice almost mocking as she had to explain this due to the confused look in more than a few eyes. "Well, I've been doing missions based on this war and to gather surveillance since I arrived here; even my arrival had to do with stopping Iwagakure."

This wasn't a complete lie, actually. She had been doing missions for the war and surveillance but not since she had arrived and things akin to this…

"The first goal on this list is to thoroughly ensure the safety of every civilian here." She held a hand up at the withering glares some clan heads shot her, angered at the obvious favouritism of the civilians, _again_.

"Any Shinobi who don't wish to fight and would rather sit around with their tails between their legs can if they so wish. But just know that if we win against Iwagakure and everyone celebrate you can cheer on with the knowledge that because of you we could have lost, because of you we lost more people than needed and that you didn't contribute at all to our win."

The room calmed once again though there was lingering tension.

"We will win." Naruko said. "But there are steps we must take first."

She took a step forwards and in her place was the redhead.

"Now," the obviously male shinobi spoke confidently, his voice unwavering and steel hard. "Who is defending Konoha and who must … leave?"

Sorry for the short chapter, but as you can see this chapter is only a third of what I wanted to write but I knew that if I was going to do 3/3 rather than 1/3 of what I wanted done then I wouldn't have had it out until towards the end of the month. TT TT Sorry for the late update but a lot has happened in these past months and I'm know having to commence with important choices…

* * *

1) Orochimaru's defect from Konoha will be delayed for a couple months or so

2) Haha I'm UNDERTALE trash and I couldn't resist it.


End file.
